Janet Harker and the Goblet of Fire
by Nerdfighter1309
Summary: Janet and co return to Hogwarts for their fourth year, which will definitely not include monster fights, a psychotic demon summoner, Coeus the confusing Titan and Harry being entered into a life threatening tournament without his consent. Oh, and there's also the small matter of the impending apocalypse led by a Demigod with daddy issues.
1. Chapter 1

Translated from Ancient Greek by Alannah Right, Head Librarian of the Great Library of Salem, Salem Witches' Institute.

Text in italics is assumed to have been spoken in Ancient Greek at the time of events happening

Text in bold are spells

Text in inverted commas are thoughts

* * *

Dad arrived to pick Alice, John and me up very early one morning a few days before the annual trip to Hogwarts as we had been invited to the Quidditch World Cup by Mr Weasley. Mr Weasley, through his boss, had somehow secured a large number of tickets to the event, though they are usually sold out years in advanced, and had invited us to attend with him, which was nice of him. Chiron assured me that Mrs O'Leary would be safe and cared for until I sent for her at the beginning of term, but it was still with great hesitation that I left my new dog behind at Camp.

We took the floo to the London terminal, where we took a brief side trip to drop our school things off at the Leaky Cauldron. Then it was on to the Weasley house where Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Fred, George, and Mr Weasley were waiting.

"I told you that was the right floo," Dad said smugly when we had collected ourselves.

The three of us looked at each other and rolled our eyes.

"Hello everyone," I said smiling at the others.

"Come on," Mr Weasley said, grinning like a kid in a sweet shop, "we're going to be late."

Mr Weasley took us on a long trek across the countryside and through woodlands and thickets, which led to a lot of complaining from Harry and Ron.

"Where are we actually going?" Harry asked.

"Don't know," Ron said, sounding surprised, "Hey Dad! Where are we going?"

"Haven't the foggiest, keep up!" Mr Weasley called cheerfully.

"I think Mr Weasley might be related to Luna," Alice whispered.

I laughed quietly. John glared at Alice for insulting his friend.

* * *

"Arthur! It's about time son," a man said as he walked over to us. He was a tall, chubby man with brown eyes behind rectangular wire framed glasses. He was wearing a brown waistcoat, made of what appeared to be sheep leather, over a button up shirt, and a blue and red tie. Over all of that he wore a green overcoat, and he had a tweed flat cap covering his brown hair. In one hand he carried a hiking stick.

"Sorry Amos. Some of us had a bit of a sleepy start." Mr Weasley said gesturing at Ron and Harry, who blushed, "and we had to wait for our friends here to arrive from America."

He looked at us, which was fair enough as they were waiting for us when we arrived. "This is Amos Diggory everyone, he works with me at the Ministry, and this strapping young lad must be Cedric, am I right?"

Everyone at Hogwarts knew Cedric Diggory, or at least knew of him. He was a universally liked member of Hufflepuff Quidditch team, he was their seeker, and was tall and handsome with brown hair and grey eyes. He was everyone's friend and I had never heard a bad word said against him.

"Yes sir," Cedric said politely with a brilliant smile.

Mr Diggory studied us up and down the line. "Merlin's beard, you must be Harry Potter."

"Yes sir," Harry said awkwardly.

"Great, great pleasure," Mr Diggory said, giddily taking Harry's hand and shaking it enthusiastically.

"Pleasure to meet you too sir," Harry muttered as he massaged his shoulder. Mr Diggory did not even ask our names.

"That's it, just over there," Mr Weasley said pointing at the top of a hill.

"Shall we?" Mr Diggory said with an excited glint in his eye. "We don't want to be late."

We reached the top of the hill only to be greeted by a boot, which was probably the worst idea for a portkey ever. Muggles tended to take notice of one mangy boot on a hilltop and a helpful volunteer might decide to remove it.

"Why are they all standing around that manky old boot?" Harry asked.

"That isn't just any old manky boot mate," Fred said, grinning at seemingly nothing.

"It's a portkey," George said.

Everyone put their hands on the boot. I put mine on Alice's and she smiled at me.

"Time to go. Ready?" Mr Weasley said.

"What's a 'portkey'?" Harry asked.

"Don't question it," I said.

"After three. One... Two…" Mr Diggory said, ignoring Harry who was not holding the boot.

"Harry!" Mr Weasley shouted.

Harry rushed over and puts his hand on the boot.

"Three!" Mr Diggory shouted.

There was a white flash and suddenly we were all flying through the air, everyone yelled in surprise.

"Let go kids!" Mr Weasley shouted, I let go and pulled Alice's hand off as well.

"What?" Hermione shouted.

"Let! Go!" Mr Weasley shouted, they let go, but it was too late as Harry, Hermione and all the Weasleys except for Mr Weasley crashed to the ground with a thump. Mr Weasley, Mr Diggory, Alice, Cedric and I came down more gracefully, we sort of drifted down. I was helping Alice, who had not used a portkey before.

"I bet that cleared your sinuses eh?" Mr Weasley said, barely holding back laughter.

Cedric helped Harry to his feet whilst I helped up Ron. Alice gave Hermione a hand up, while the twins got each other and John helped Ginny up.

"Who decided that the portkey should end that far above the ground?" I asked.

"Probably Percy," George said snarkily.

"He works in the Department of Sport now, or whatever it's called," Fred sneered.

* * *

As we walked across the field, we saw that there was a massive crowd gathered, cheering and celebrating, and that tents were set up all around a giant stadium. Music from all over the world wafted together to make the entire field have a festival vibe as people danced and showed off their amazing tricks and abilities. The tents were bizarre, shaped like castles, the Taj Mahal, The Leaning Tower of Pisa, a Leprechaun head and just about anything else that could be thought of. Some enterprising wizards had sold the space on the side of their tents as advertising space.

"Well kids, welcome to the Quidditch World Cup!" Mr Weasley said, grinning at Ron's reaction. He looked about ready to faint. We followed him into the crowd, taking in the sights, and dodging the people who were flying about overhead on brooms. We approached a rather small tent that appeared to be barely large enough for four people, let alone the eleven we had with us.

"Parting of the ways I think old chap," Mr Diggory said, waving farewell. "See you at the match," Mr Diggory and Cedric walked off and were quickly lost in the crowd.

"See ya later Cedric," Harry called after Cedric's retreating back.

"Home, sweet home, or tent, sweet tent I suppose," Mr Weasley said as he pushed aside the flap and entered the tent.

The rest of us entered the tent. The inside was many times bigger than the outside, with more than enough space for all of us.

"It's like summer all over again," Dad said, making Alice and me laugh but confusing everyone else.

"Girls," Mr Weasley said, "choose a bunk and unpack. Ron, get out of the kitchen we're all hungry, leave some for the rest of us."

Ron, who had gone to the kitchen, re-entered the main area of the tent, his cheeks almost as red as his hair from embarrassment.

"Yeah get out of the kitchen Ron," the twins said as they plonked down in chairs and put their feet up on the table.

"Feet off the table," Mr Weasley said, the twins sat up straight and removed their feet from the table, until Mr Weasley passed them, when they put their feet straight back onto the table with a roll of their eyes.

"Oh, it's so nice to finally do something as friends," Hermione said happily. "Well, aside from stopping madmen."

"Yeah," Ron agreed dreamily.

Ron was so obviously smitten with Hermione that he would agree with her even if she said the sky was green with pink polka dots.

"So, how was your summer everyone?" Hermione asked.

"My family still hates me," Harry said. "Sirius is filling out the adoption papers and all kinds of other paperwork to get his stuff in order so he'll be able to inherit his family's estate and adopt me but it's slow going."

"Well, that's good, you'll finally get away from that crazy Uncle of your," I said.

"Yeah," Harry said with a smile, "but Sirius thinks it might take him a really long time, apparently there are like a dozen forms to fill out, then someone might force a court battle, seeing as he is a convicted criminal, even if it is just for being an unregistered animagus. I might be stuck with them for another summer."

"I expect Dumbledore won't let him take you without a fight," I muttered to myself, a headache suddenly appearing. "He had to have a reason for putting you with them rather than sending you to safe home. Maybe a blood ward," I stared off into space, "but Sirius' house should be safe as an Ancient Families' ancestral home and a blood ward would be too dark for him," I snapped out of my musing to realise that the others had been ignoring my mumblings.

"Well, my parents took me down to Cornwall," Hermione said. "It rained for about half the week but the rest of the time it was fine. Dad took me sailing and we ate ice creams on the beach."

"Sounds like fun," John said, he looked around quickly to ensure we were alone before lowering his voice. "We went to the summer camp we always go to. Drake turned out to be evil. He tried to kill Janet."

"You beat him right?" Ron asked.

I hung my head and winced. "I lost." Everyone stared at me. "He won our fight and escaped, I was bedridden for a week."

"Whoa," Ron said, looking confused, "hang on, he's a Halfblood. Why would the Death Eaters accept him?"

"Not the Death Eaters," Alice said darkly, "a different monster, a Halfblood called Luke. He used to be our friend but he's gone completely insane. He wants to tear down the Western World because he thinks it's wrong and corrupt. He's also willingly let himself be possessed by the king of the Titans, the Lord of Time."

"Well, our fun discussion of summer got dark," Hermione said, trying to be lighthearted.

'Should we tell them?' I thought at Alice, who looked at me and raised one eyebrow.

'About what?'

I facepalmed, which confused the others.

"You two are talking about something," Hermione said. "It's rude not to include us."

"Private and personal matter," I said before turning back to Alice. 'US!'

Alice put a hand to her head at the forceful thought.

'Sorry, should we tell them about you and me, being you know, a thing.'

Alice's mouth opened for a moment before nodding. 'You do it.'

'Why me?' I asked, my body tensing nervously.

'You're better at explaining than I am, also, I'm too nervous, I'd just screw it up.'

'Very well,' I turned back to everyone else, who had started talking about the World Cup match, or rather Ron, Harry and Ginny were talking whilst Hermione and John looked lost. I cleared my throat. Everyone froze and looked at me.

I blushed. "Over the summer," I said, my voice cracking slightly, "Alice and I started dating."

The effect was immediate. Harry and Hermione's jaws dropped, one of the twins spat out his drink in shock, Ginny looked unsurprised, John already knew so was also unsurprised, and Ron was blushing furiously.

"Like dating dating?" Ron asked.

I rolled my eyes, but I wanted to sink into the floor under their gazes. As I thought about it I felt the floor beneath me soften and I had to stop it from happening before I literally sank into the floor. "Well done Ron, you made an incoherent sentence. Yes, like dating dating."

"Like candle lit dinners and long walks on the beach? Like you're now girlfriends?"

"Yes Ron," I said as condescendingly as possible. "Well done Ron, have a gold star."

Everyone laughed, except Ron, who looked confused.

"Can two girls do that? Become girlfriends I mean?"

"And I thought I had a sheltered life," I muttered. "For the last time, yes Ron, it is possible."

"I, I-" Ron looked totally lost.

"Ron, stop being a moron," Fred said.

"It's about time you two stopped mooning over each other," Ginny said smiling cheekily.

"You knew?" Alice asked.

"Yeah, so do half the girls in Gryffindor tower. Don't worry, no-one will think any less of you for it, or at least no true Gryffindor will," Ginny said in a way that sounded an awful lot like a threat to Ron, who was still scrunching his brow in confusion.

"And none of us here will say anything if you don't want us too," she said, glaring at the twins.

"Thanks Ginny," Alice said. "It's not like I'm scared or anything, it's just, everything is so new and weird, but good weird, the kind of weird that is slowly making everything make sense."

I smiled and kissed her on the cheek, she smiled back.

"Hey, Ginny," George said, our display of affection making him fidget uncomfortably, "wanna go have a look around?"

"I think I saw a sweet stand by the entrance," Fred said.

"Yeah, sounds like fun," Ginny said getting up, her eyes shining.

"Don't get up to anything while we're gone," Fred said with a wink as they left.

"Yeah, mischief is our job," George said.

"Oh, I almost forgot," I said, "I got a new familiar, a dog."

"What happened to Snowy?" Hermione asked.

"We didn't get along. Owls aren't really a Hecate thing, neither are dogs really, but Mrs O'Leary is special," I said proudly. "She's a Hellhound."

"Wait," Hermione said, looking scared, "Hellhounds are really dangerous, I don't think even Hagrid would want one near the school."

I frowned, "she's a well trained one, she's about as soppy as they come."

Hermione raised an eyebrow, "that's not saying much, Hellhounds aren't exactly beagles."

I sighed, "Hermione, trust me on this, if Mrs O'Leary was like other Hellhounds she would have tried to eat me by now."

Ron snorted, "what kind of name is Mrs O'Leary?"

I shrugged, "dunno, but it fits."

"Where'd you find a Hellhound?" Ron asked, "they're supposed to be really rare in the wild, most are owned by dark wizards or gods."

"I didn't, I inherited her from a Demigod called Daedalus," I said, smiling sadly as I remembered the old architect.

"Wait, Daedalus, as in Labyrinth Daedalus, or just a namesake?" Hermione asked.

"Labyrinth Daedalus, he kept his spirit alive for millennia inside an automaton, which in turn was inside his Labyrinth," I explained.

"Wasn't the Labyrinth on Crete?" Hermione asked.

"It did that annoying thing magical objects tend to do when left for centuries, it came to life and grew. It was all over the world. Did you feel an earthquake in the summer?"

"Yeah, worst on record for England at least according to Mum," Ron said.

"They felt it all over the world," Hermione said. "Was that the Labyrinth?"

"Yeah. When Daedalus died, the Labyrinth collapsed because he tied his life force to it. In fact he killed himself to destroy the Labyrinth so that it couldn't be used by monsters to sneak into Camp," John said.

"Good," Hermione said, which caused John to bristle at the perceived insult to his brother. "No person should live that long."

"Daedalus said something along the same line," Alice said. "He was trying to escape Minos."

"I'm lost," Ron declared.

I sighed, "I will say this in simple terms using lots of short sentences. An architect called Daedalus lived inside a maze. He turned himself into a machine to escape a man who hated him called Minos who became an important person in the afterlife. He killed himself to destroy the maze that was being used to invade the Demigod training camp and to try and save the world. I got his dog. Did you get that?"

"I think so," Ron said. "Wait, who is Mrs O'Leary?"

"The dog!" I shouted in frustration.

"Oh, got it all now. Why didn't you just collapse the entrance?"

"Magic. Labyrinth." John said, switching who Ron was talking to, because one person cannot handle that much stupid. "It's magic, destroy a door and it will simply move. The Labyrinth was magic and semi-sentient, you could not destroy part of it."

"Hey, it was a valid point," Ron said, "no need to treat me like a child."

"Don't worry about it," Alice said in my ear, "Ron's an idiot, we all know that." She kissed my cheek. I turned and smiled at her and she beamed back as she wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me closer.

"Get a room," Ron said grumpily.

"Wow, someone is an unhappy bunny," Alice said, making a mocking pout. "Maybe later," she gave me an exaggerated wink, I blushed and looked at the floor.

"Stop that," Ron said.

Alice pouted more.

"Bah! I'm hungry." He stormed out of the tent.

"I'll go get him," Hermione said as she got up.

"Leave him, just give him time to cool off," John said. "He'll come back to his senses at some point."

Hermione hesitated before turning back to us and sat back down. "I suppose you're right," she muttered as she looked longingly at the tent flap. "Has anyone read the uniform and equipment letter yet?"

Everyone shook their heads.

Hermione sighed. "We have to have dress robes. I think there's a formal ball or something happening this year."

"Oh great," I said sarcastically, "more shopping. I wonder if the dress I wore for the celebrations will do. I could go home and get it."

"I think you're the only girl who doesn't like shopping," Harry said, which caused Alice, Hermione and I to glare at him. He chuckled and held up his hands in defeat. "Ok, sorry, bad words, I won't say it again."

"You can't," Hermione said, weirdly sounding scandalised. "You've already worn it to a party, there's protocol for this."

"Hermione," I said, unimpressed. "I think the overlap between the celebration feast on Olympus and Hogwarts is literally just me, and Mum gave me that dress, it seems like a shame not wear it."

"Wait, you went to Olympus?" Hermione asked, her eyes shining with excitement. "What was it like? I bet it was beautiful."

I cringed. "I was a little busy dealing with Gods deciding whether or not to kill two of my friends, but yes, from what I saw it was beautiful."

Hermione's eyes widened as she thought about it. "When was this? And how did deciding whether or not to kill someone turn into a party?"

"In the winter, the solstice to be precise, and you'd be surprised what the gods do for an excuse for a party. When they decided not kill our friends they decided to have a feast."

"That's cool," Hermione said warily.

"Well, aside from the incubus, he was really creepy," I said, shivering at the memory of the rose garden.

"Aren't they soul sucking demons?" Hermione asked.

I shuddered, "no, the godling children of the Goddess of Love and minor gods, they're just really creepy."

The next day Ron, who was normally the last to rise in any group of people, was the first up. He was in the main room of the tent, bouncing with uncontrolled excitement as we went about our daily routine.

"If Ron gets any more excited I think his head will explode," Alice said, which made us all laugh, even Ron.

"Hey," Alice said quietly in my ear, rubbing the back of my hand with her thumb, "let's go look around."

"I'll come with you," Harry said, before Hermione whispered something in his ear. He blushed in embarrassment. "Right, no third wheeling, that's going to take some getting used to. I'll go and unpack."

Alice smiled gratefully at him.

"Come on," she said, practically dragging me out of the tent.


	2. Chapter 2

The atmosphere was indescribable. There were hundreds of people excitedly wandering around. Stalls were selling every foodstuff imaginable along with the usual magic tourist trash, ranging from auto-focusing binoculars to burglar alarms to noise makers. There were buskers, street performers, and face painting that actually moved across people's faces.

We wondered without any particular objective, just basking in each other's presence as we walked with our hands intertwined. Alice was pointing things out with the excitability of a child at the fair whilst I just stared up at her from where my head rested on her arm (I was too short to reach her shoulder).

"You've been very quiet," Alice observed as we passed a concessionaire's tent.

"Just happy to be with you," I replied smiling brightly at her. She smiled back.

We turned a corner and got pulled into a crowd as we has ended up turning onto one of the main 'roads' that had cropped up in the eclectic mess of tents. The noise suppression charms that had been set up to prevent muggles getting curious had stopped us from hearing the crowd.

The tide of humanity carried on, not caring for Alice and I, as we held onto each other's hands tightly to keep us from getting separated as we got caught up in the riptide of the crowd. I was jostled about in the sea of bodies (most of which were in serious need of a wash, wizards apparently do not have deodorant) and I was just the right height to take several accidental elbows to the face. Just as I thought we were going to get separated, Alice pulled us out of the crush of humanity and into one of the smaller routes. It was just the gap between the smaller and shabbier tents that had taken up residence on the boggier side of the field.

"Well, that was unpleasant," I said as we wandered among the tents, trying to find our way back. I was nursing my bruised cheek.

"In the future, I think we'll stay away from crowds," Alice said. She smiled brilliantly at me and in that moment everything was alright, I could even forget about my throbbing cheek.

"Well, well, well, looky here," a thickly accented (Essex if anyone cares) voice said. We turned around to see a bulky man in a leather jerkin. He held a (chair leg) club in one hand and a wand in the other. There were a half dozen others with him, some held knives, one had a sword (but definitely did not know how to use it)

"We don't want any trouble," I said as I assessed them. Four were large, muscular types, likely relying on their size to intimidate others. The ones I was concerned about were the two holding knives. One was a girl, the other a guy. They moved like they knew how to use the knives and would probably be the actual threat in a fight.

The man laughed. "Don't want any trouble, eh posh girl? You capital wizards think you're the shit because you've got Diagon," he spat at the ground. "Hand over yer valuables and we won't smash yer skulls. I ain't got any problem hitting little girls if it means I get to eat tonight." He hefted his club onto his shoulder to emphasise his point.

"Run?" Alice asked in a barely audible whisper.

I looked at them. I got the sense from their minds that they were deadly serious. "We're meant to be heroes, if we let them stay here and hurt another person, I'd never be able to live with myself."

Alice nodded. "Okay. They'll be tough, there's seven of them, two of us."

"Take out enough, the rest will flee. They're thugs, not monsters."

The boss stamped his foot, splashing the dirty water in the puddle on the ground. "Come on, we don't got all day."

"I'm going to freeze the puddle. Get as many of them as possible before they free themselves," I hissed to Alice. She nodded.

"Ok, gentlemen, and woman," I nodded at the one female thief, "this is your one chance to surrender."

They started laughing.

"We ain't scared of you girly," the female thief sneered.

"Shame," I said haughtily, "you should be."

I snapped my fingers and the puddle grabbed them with tendrils of water and then froze, taking them by surprise and immobilising them. Alice launched a series of stunners, knocking out two of the big guys before the others could think to raise shields. The female thief was the first to free herself, she had been standing on the edge of the puddle, so there wasn't much water to grab her. She ran at me with her knife, I unsheathed my own dagger (the present from Uncle Alistair) out of where I had hidden it in my sleeve, I readied myself.

"Let's dance," she hissed, she swung the knife upwards at my throat, I brought my knife up to parry. Sparks flew as the magical metal of my knife hit whatever hers was made of (it was at least enchanted for it to not be cut in half by my own knife).

We exchanged blows, faster and faster, she was the more skilled fighters, this was obvious, but I was fast enough to dodge any attempt she made at hurting me. Despite having the edge in speed I could not capitalise on it enough to do more than give her a couple of superficial cuts. We exchanged another rally of blows, she used the moment of the last one to push us apart.

"Got to give it to you posh girl, you know how to use that knife," she panted as she checked her wounds, I checked my own, I had several cuts I had not noticed in the fight, my shirt (one of my favourite purple ones) was cut to shreds where the fabric had been nicked by the dagger, I had a dozen very shallow cuts, some barely more than grazes. I did not have time to process this before she launched herself at me again with a swipe at my guts, I leaned backwards, bringing my foot up hit her in the knee as I did so, using the air to support myself. The kick knocked her off balance, I brought my dagger down at her as I righted myself, she rolled backwards out of the way. "Nice move," she hissed as she lunged at me, I caught her knife arm and pulled her into me, holding her knife hand away from us, I held her other arm in the crook of my elbow and my dagger to her throat.

"Thanks," I said, crinkling my nose as her hair brushed my face.

"Not good enough," she brought her head forwards, as if to headbutt me with the back of her head, but I pressed my dagger at her throat.

"Don't even think about it," I hissed.

"You wouldn't posh girl, you ain't got it in you," she brought her right leg backwards kicking out my legs from under me, the next thing I knew I was on my back with her knife at my throat. "I win," she hissed in my face, I was close enough now to smell her shampoo (vanilla).

"Janet!" Alice shouted, I cursed, I'd left her with the rest of the thugs to deal with.

"Sorry about this," I said, the physical contact and lack of occlumency shields allowed me to quickly invaded her mind enough to unbalance her. She blinked in disorientation, her grip on me relaxing, I clapped my hands on her ears hard enough to cause her to scream, I saw blood trickle out of her ears, I drove my fist into her temple and she went down like a sack of potatoes. Rule 1 of fighting as a demigod, fight dirty.

I picked up my dagger and turned back to Alice, who was running around the thugs as they tried to hit her with their crude clubs, she had managed to down two other thugs. I ran up to the nearest other thug and shocked him with a quick electricity spell, he collapsed twitching. The nearest thug heard his companion's scream and charged me with the club raised above his head, I stood my ground until the last moment, I side stepped, causing him to trip over the guide wire behind me, he fell to the ground. As he tried to free himself I picked up his club and clubbed him into unconsciousness.

My instincts told me to move so I did, just as the other knife fighter swiped at where I had been, rather than getting my side, he got my arm, his knife bit deep into my left arm, I bit my lip to try not to scream. The wound was bleeding quite heavily, I would need a tourniquet to prevent myself from bleeding out. He slashed at me, a murderous look in his eyes, another slash gave me a haircut, another barely missed my throat.

"I'm gonna kill ya, I'm gonna gut ya like a fish," he growled at me, I did not respond, I was too busy trying to prove him wrong. He was slower than the girl, but still fast enough to cause problems, and his anger was giving him manic strength and speed. He was too unpredictable for me to try anything, he grew angrier and angrier as he continued to fail to hit me, making him sloppier, which in turn contributed to a cycle of him getting angrier and sloppier. I feinted to get his left arm, he moved to block before I quickly redirected my slash into stabbing his right thigh, he bellowed in pain. He headbutted me, our foreheads colliding, I saw stars and stumbled backwards, tearing a jagged line in his thigh, I gritted my teeth as I felt the knife scrape bone. I stood still, trying to keep myself from falling from the after-effect of the headbutt, he kept trying to rise, but his injured leg stopped him.

As soon as I could see clearly I sent a stunner at him, knocking him out, I groaned in pain as I turned to help Alice, who had just knocked out the last thug. She was covered in scrapes and bruises and her right arm hung limply, she looked at my left arm with a look of concern, I remembered the knife wound there, I looked down and the pain came flooding back as the adrenaline faded and I collapsed.

I spent the next few hours lapsing in and out of consciousness, I woke up in a tent with a white roof, two healers were feeding me potions that I recognised as blood replenishing potions. I lapsed into unconsciousness again, then woke up to Alice and Dad standing over me, they were saying something, but I couldn't hear. I lapsed into unconsciousness again.

I woke up on top of a building overlooking a city. I turned around, I saw the Statue of Liberty in the background and then I turned to see the Empire State Building (I was pretty sure the view did not exist in real life and was just the dream helping orientate me). The New York cityscape around me soon flickered until I saw a different scene, the buildings were broken, collapsed and deserted, the mortals had vanished there was fighting in the street below me, sword to claw, bow to fist. I saw a centaur be brought down by a group of small impish creatures, a Demigod was overpowered by a Minotaur, an Auror in the blue robes of her offices was run through with a long spear from behind by an orcish creature. Slowly but surely the group of fighters were wiped out. "Foolish, fighting the inevitable," a dark, cruel voice whispered at me, Kronos.

"It's not foolish to fight for what we love," I replied, not looking away from the scene as a Hunter of Artemis was dragged onto the streets from the building she had been sniping from, her throat was slit and she was left in a pool of her own blood.

"You can still save yourself," Kronos whispered, "give yourself over to me. I can give you everything, power, money, glory."

"Could you give me back my self respect?" I asked, "I could not live with myself if I helped kill humanity to serve my own selfish desires. That's not what it means to be a hero, it means fighting even against overwhelming odds, it's to stand and do what is right even if you know you should lose."

"Fool!" The voice declared, raising to normal talking volume, which in the devastated cityscape, was as loud as a gunshot. "You could have a peaceful life, you and your little girlfriend could live out immortality not having to worry about monsters and dark lords ever again."

"That sounds terrible, give you the world so I can have a slightly easier life? No! I rather like Western civilisation, now send me back Kronos, we have nothing more to discuss."

"Very well," the whisper quietening to being barely audible, "we will speak about this at another time."

I woke up under the white canvas roof of the medical tent, there were a few other occupied beds around me (including one with a man with a giant fly head, I decided that one was better not asked after). I groaned groggily and sat up, the first thing I noticed was that my arm was bandaged, which was unsurprising, a nurse rushed over and helped me into a sitting position.

"How are you feeling?" She asked, concern radiating from her voice.

"Well, I can't feel the cut on my left arm, which is either good, or terrible," she smiled weakly at that, "I'm a bit groggy, but aside from that I'm fine."

She lit a bright light on the end of her wand and looked into my eyes, "I can't see anything wrong, I should be able to discharge you in time for you to go back to your family tonight, you're going to have a nasty scar from that slash on your arm. Fancy targeting a pair of girls like that, shameful," she clicked her tongue and shook her head.

I gasped, "where's Alice?"

"Your friend was discharged earlier, she's just got cuts and bruises, and a numb arm, got that all cleared up, she was out within twenty minutes," she smiled, "she's been sitting outside ever since, wouldn't go away, your father's out there as well, and an Auror." She frowned at that, "wants to ask you some questions."

"I suppose I should answer them, don't want to take up more of his time than I have to."

She frowned, "you don't have to, I can tell him to come back later, that you're in no shape to be interrogated."

I smiled weakly at her, "nah, no point wasting his time."

"Very well, I'll send him in," she got up and left.

The next person to enter the room was a huge Auror, at least seven feet tall and broad shouldered, he was probably the most solid thing in the tent. His head was bald and his eyes were an unspectacular watery brown. I suddenly felt very conscious of my height (or lack there of), "I think we've met before," his voice was a deep rumble, like a rock-slide just before it comes in to crush you. "I was wearing my hood pulled up though, to cover up some wounds I received," he gestured with some thick fingers at a long, jagged scars that crossed his entire face.

"Mr Demort?" I asked, he nodded.

"Abe, please," he said, his voice with a slight wariness (which took me by surprise) and no real friendliness.

"What can I do for you Mr Demort?" I asked.

"Where did you learn to fight with a dagger?" He asked, handing my dagger, "I've been approved to give that back to you."

"My Godfather thought it would be a good idea to have a dagger, you probably know him, Alistair Moody," Abe's eyebrow raised at that. He had not seemed to have noticed that I did not actually answer his question.

"Should have known Thom would choose Mad-Eye as the Godfather," his voice had softened, "he's good one, taught me everything I know. Moody might be a bit nuts, but when the world is mad you need to be nuts to bring it back to order. Now then, give me an account of what happened with those muggers."

I gave him a short, sanitised version, careful to not lie, but to downplay Alice and I's abilities, to try and stop any wizards from looking too closely at us, "we got lucky." I concluded, Abe leaned back and ruminated on this for a moment.

"That's pretty much what we got from your friend and the witnesses, the muggers have signed confessions, seems rather open and shut, shame, I like a nice long case," he smiled at me, the expression looked foreign on his features. "I'll see you around then, I don't have any more questions for now," he said as he walked out the tent flap. Alice came bounding in almost the second he was gone.

"Janet, don't do that to me again," she said, pulling me into a bone crushing hug.

"Alice, air," I gasped with what little breath I could muster.

"Sorry," she said, releasing me suddenly, "guess I forgot my own strength."

I hugged her, "I didn't say stop," I whispered, she giggled and pulled me into a kiss.

We parted a little while later, a little breathless and both blushing, "you're so beautiful," she said, gently tucking an errant strand of my hair behind my ear, I had cut it shorter over the summer because people kept grabbing it during sparring, it now went down to just past my shoulders, it was shorter than Alice's for the first time I could remember.

"You're not so bad yourself," I said with a wink as I took her hand in mine and ran my thumb along the swordswoman's callouses on her palm. She blushed cutely and looked away.

We sat there, not talking, just enjoying each other's company for what felt like hours, but was probably only a few minutes.

The nurse interrupted us, "sorry to get between you two, but you've been discharged, we need your bed, the Irish got their pride on a little too hard with some Bulgarians and your injuries are mostly healed, let me change your bandages and then you're free to go, come back if you feel your wounds acting up."

The scar was not as bad as I feared, it was a thin, about two inches long on my forearm, nothing too bad, I had worse, like the ones on my hip from the Karpoi in Idaho.

After changing my bandages I was released into Dad's care, who fused over me and told me off for being reckless, before pulling me into a hug. "I love you Jan, don't do that again, you get me so worried every time you pull one of these stunts."

"Dad, it all turned out alright," I replied, smiling at him, he sighed and shook his head, but did not argue.

I went to bed as soon as we got back to the tent, Alice went to seek out the others, to tell them what had happened.


	3. Chapter 3

The next day Ron, who was normally the last to rise in any group of people, was the first up. He was in the main room of the tent, bouncing with uncontrolled excitement as we went about our daily routine.

"If Ron gets any more excited I think his head will explode," Alice said, which made us all laugh, even Ron.

"Morning," I yawned, rubbing the sleep from my eyes, "why did no-one wake me up?"

"Well, we thought you'd like your sleep after what happened yesterday," Harry replied.

"I've not suddenly turned into a porcelain doll just because I got a bit injured yesterday," I said crossly.

"It was my idea," Alice said guiltily, she looked a bit sheepish, but I could not stay, or even get, angry at her.

I tried to maintain a front of being angry, but it soon faded, "I can't stay angry at you, but don't do it again."

"Sorry," she whispered, I hugged her.

"Anyway, I should get ready, the opening ceremony is soon," I returned to the bit of the tent where the girls had been sleeping to get changed.

* * *

The World Cup Stadium was huge. It was a scaled-up version of the Hogwarts stadium, except with hundreds of row around the large oval shaped pitch in the middle. Thousands of magical beings of all sorts were in the stands, chatting excitedly. One side of the stadium was taken up by a huge magical screen so people could actually see what was happening on the pitch below them.

"Blimey Dad, how far up are we?" Ron asked when we finally got into the stadium and started climbing the rows looking for our seats.

"Well put it this way," Lucius Malfoy said, seeming to appear out of nowhere, "if it rains... you'll be the first to know."

"Father and I are in the minister's box," Draco sneered, "by personal invitation of Cornelius Fudge himself."

"Don't boast Draco," Lucius chastised his weasel-like son. "There's no need with these people," he added with a sneer that mirrored his son. "Do enjoy yourself, won't you." He turned to leave before adding ominously, "While you can."

If there was an award for the most obvious villain in the world, it would go to Lucius Malfoy.

As if from a hidden cue, as soon as Lucius left the balloons were released and fireworks were set off, marking the beginning of the tournament.

"Come on up," Mr Weasley called. "Take your seats. I told you these seats would be worth waiting for."

"Come on!" George shouted. We all ran up to them and quickly took our seats for the opening ceremony.

The last advertisement (for a new warded cauldron, which prevented burning hot potions erupting in people's faces) ended and mascots took to the field. The first mascots were leprechauns, dozens of them, throwing leprechaun gold into the stands, which made younger and more naive witches and wizards scrabble blindly for it. I rolled my eyes and started laughing as Ron, Ginny, John, Alice and Harry started stuffing their pockets, only to groan when Mr Weasley managed to collect himself from his fit of laughter to tell them that it was worthless. The leprechauns began doing an Irish jig whilst shooting off magical rainbow fireworks, culminating in a giant, true coloured leprechaun head shaped explosion.

After the Irish mascots it was the turn of the Bulgarians, who had brought Veelas. Veelas are fire and wind elementals that are capable of performing wanded magic (even if they prefer their own brand of nature magic). For the sake of the dignity of just about every magical house in the world, they are considered pure bloods, seeing as they are the second most common marriage in the magical world to non-wizards (the most common being muggles). The reason Veela marriage is so common is that Veelas are absolutely beautiful and can entrance most men (and some women) using a spell called allure, which only Veelas and some part-Veelas can perform, which makes anyone who could be entranced by it to see Veela as the most beautiful thing in the world. The stadium was nearly silent as the Veelas began a beautiful dance of aerial prowess. Most of the men (and some women) in the audience were totally entranced by the hypnotic dancing of the Veelas as they glided gracefully around the arena. When they finished and left the arena there were calls for encores, and a slight whimpering at people saddened by their absence. I, on the other hand, was glad to see them go. I hate the allure spell, it makes me feel violated as the magic of the Veelas makes me think things I do not want to talk about. This time was particularly bad as they made me think of the rose garden incident, I wanted to throw up just thinking about. When they were gone I held Alice's hand, and she gripped mine tightly. Her jaw was clenched and she was frowning angrily. It appeared she had the same opinion on them as I did.

"It's the Irish!" Fred shouted pointing.

Five green and white figures flew through the air on their brooms, waving to the crowd. They left a coloured trail behind them, which caused a glittering another giant leprechaun to appear in the sky and start dancing. The Irish are really proud of their leprechauns. Everyone in the stadium cheered excitedly at the thought that the match might start.

"Here come the Bulgarians!" Ron shouted pointing and jumping up and down, much to the annoyance of the person behind him.

Five red figures flew into the stadium, performing stunts on their brooms. One of them appeared on the large screen, he waved and the crowd began to chant. "Krum! Krum! Krum!"

"Krum!" Ron shouted so loud I heard ringing in my right ear from his shouting. Viktor Krum waved to the crowd, and I am pretty sure that several members of the front row fainted.

"Good evening!" the announcer announced (surprising that, an announcer announcing something). "It gives me great pleasure to welcome each and every one of you to the final of the 422nd Quidditch World Cup. Let the match begin!

As the match got underway the stands were full of cheering, shouting, booing and chanting as we all watched with excitement. Even people who did not normally like Quidditch, like Alice, Hermione and I, found ourselves cheering and jumping around. The time rushed by as we watched the exciting game without much understanding of what was going on.

* * *

"There's no one like Krum," Ron gushed after we had returned to the tent, after Ireland won the match in a major upset despite Krum getting the snitch. "He's like a bird the way he rides the wind, he's more than an athlete, he's an artist."

"Think you're in love Ron?" Ginny asked, causing Ron to blush.

"Viktor I love you! Viktor I do!" The twins started singing massively out of tune, causing everyone to laugh. Harry joined in. "When we're apart my heart beats only for youuu!"

There was the sound of a fight of some sort going on outside, "Sounds like the Irish have got their pride on," Fred said jokingly.

"Stop!" Mr Weasley shouted. We all stopped. Then we heard it too. Screaming.

"It's not the Irish," Dad said, icy calm, but his eyes flitting side to side nervously. "We've got to get out of here. Now!"

We ran out the tent. "Get back to the portkey everybody, and stick together," Mr Weasley shouted before turning to the twins. "Fred, George... Ginny is your responsibility." He ran off into the crowd with Dad. After they left, some figures in pointed hoods carrying flaming torches walked across the campsite chanting ominously. The crowd panicked and scattered all over, curses fly, everything after that was a blur for a while. We ran.

When we reached the edge of the encampment I realise that Harry was missing. "Stop!"

Everyone stopped.

"Harry, we lost Harry," I said catching my breath. "Split up, find him, meet at the portkey in an hour. Alice and John you're with me, Twins and Hermione you go together, Ginny and Ron, you go to the portkey, in case he heads in that direction. Send up a blue flare if you run into any serious trouble. Any questions?"

Ron put up his hand.

I ignored him.

"Good, let's go."

I turned around and led John and Alice back into the flaming tents, putting out as many fires as possible as I went, but I knew my efforts would not help much as the tents would just catch on fire again later. We searched high and low, once we bumped into two of the fire starting hooded figures, they were dressed in long black robes with peaked hoods, they also wore silver masks and black leather gloves.

"Death eaters," I hissed, readying my wand.

"Run along now children," one said through a voice-altering spell that made him sound like a blocked drain.

"Ready?" John asked.

"You two take the one on the left, I'll take the one on the right," I said quietly. John and Alice nodded in agreement.

" **Petrificus totalus** ," I cast on the left death eater. The others had done the same for the one on the right and they went down like playing cards.

"Well, they were easy," Alice said disappointment evident in her voice.

"Yes, too easy," John said removing their masks, "and now we know why." He turned them to face me. The robes were empty, their forms held by magic. "Enchanted clothing, great for scaring people, useless in a fight."

"Let's keep going," I said as we walked through the ashy paths of what had once been a forest of tents. I looked at the stadium for reference and saw that it was also on fire.

"Why couldn't they have waited a few days?" John asked. "Just let all the games be played, then attack, oh," he tripped on something buried in the ash. "What was that?"

I looked at his feet. He had tripped on a burnt skull.

"Someone's head," I said feeling revolted. I had seen some pretty nasty stuff, especially after the Battle of the Labyrinth, but a burnt skull was pretty up there. I felt light headed, I thought I was going to throw up. I looked away for a second to compose myself.

"That is nasty," Alice said as we helped John to his feet. She was trying very hard to not look at the head.

"Yeah, death eaters don't muck about," I muttered as we quietly made our way through the remains.

"Well, that's not good," John said looking at the sky.

We all looked up. In the sky was the smoky green form of a skull with a snake crawling from one of its eyes.

"The Dark Mark," I said running towards it.

"Why are we running towards the evil snake, skull thing?" John asked. "It's more logical to run the Hades away from it, like any sane person will be."

"Murphy's Law, what can go wrong will go wrong, Harry will be under the Dark Mark because that's the worst possible place he could be," I shouted as we ran towards the Mark, and hopefully Harry.

"I don't think it works like that," John shouted back

When we reached the origin of the Mark, Harry ran into us, literally, and we tumbled down in a heap.

"See, Murphy's Law," I said proudly.

"Back there," Harry said, clearly panicking.

"Easy Harry," I said soothingly as I helped him to his feet, "we got you."

"What is that?" He pointed at the Dark Mark, still hanging in the sky.

"Voldemort's calling card," I said, "the Dark Mark." I half expected dramatic lightning at that statement.

"So those were his followers," Harry squeaked.

Suddenly spells were being shot at us. I blocked them with a shield and prepared to retaliate.

"Stop!" Dad's amplified voice called, halting the spells. "That's my daughter and her friends."

"Janet, Alice, Harry, John are you alright?" Dad asked.

"Which of you conjured this?" a man shouted. He was a thin man of medium height dressed in pinstriped robes with thin grey hair under a bowler hat and piercing grey eyes. I recognised him as Barty Crouch Senior. Mr Crouch was once the UK's highest Auror, now he was in a different department, International Relations I believe. He had been pushed out after the war thanks to Malfoy Senior and his friends.

"You can't possibly…" Dad tried to interject.

"Do not lie!" Mr Crouch cut him off. "You have been discovered at the scene of the crime!"

"Crime?" Harry asked in confusion.

"Barty, they're just kids," Dad tried.

"I will hear no more from you," Mr Crouch said loudly. "Turn over your wands. I will check your last spells."

We diligently handed over our wands, except Harry who was panicking. "I've lost my wand sir, I must have dropped it in the rush, I'm sorry, it must be around here somewhere."

Mr Crouch let out a growl.

"We've got it sir," Demort, the massive Auror I met before the summer, said as he held up the wand, "and look what was attached to it." He held up a very ashamed looking house elf.

"Winky?" Mr Crouch asked in shock, sounding wounded. "What are you doing here?"

"Winky was doing as Master said," Winky whimpered. "Winky was being a good elf, Winky always is."

Mr Crouch took the wand off Demort and checked the last spell; it was the Dark Mark."Winky! Clothes! I no longer require your services!" Barty shouted furiously, "get out of my sight and never come back!" Winky collapsed crying her oversized eyes out.

"Sir," I said, causing Mr Crouch to wheel to face me.

"What?" Mr Crouch asked with an angry sneer.

"Sir, a House Elf is not able to perform wanded magic, they have their own magic, so how would Winky have summoned the Mark? Does it not stand to reason that a death eater may have planted Harry's wand on Winky before they escaped?"

Barty Crouch glared at me, but appeared to be thinking about what I said. "No, there have been historic examples of the rare house elf using wanded magic. The simplest solution is normally the solution."

I bristled, but was unwilling to press the matter further with an angry former Auror, that was a fight I did not want.

"Please Master," Winky said pitifully, cringing back from Mr Crouch.

"I am not your Master anymore, now be gone." He removed his tie and thrust it into Winky's hand. Winky collapsed crying again, but did as she was told and apparated away.

"Mr Crouch, do not let my witnesses or suspects go," a woman said, walking over. It was Amelia Bones, the lady who had taken over from Crouch as the top Auror. She was in her late fifties and had a strict, almost McGonagall atmosphere about her, with her grey hair pulled back in a tight bun. She also wore a monocle, which was so outdated that it was rather amusing.

"I'm sorry Amelia, I was angry and not thinking straight," Mr Crouch said sounding very insincere.

"You're not an Auror Mr Crouch," she said glaring down her nose at him. "Go home."

Mr Crouch looked ready to protest.

"Now!" Madam Bones ordered.

"Ma'am," an Auror shouted as he ran over. Madam Bones and Mr Crouch turned to face him. "Another prisoner escaped Azkaban!" He gasped, the pair shared a long suffering look. "It was Pettigrew! Peter Pettigrew has escaped!"

I cursed. Amelia Bones looked ready to try and tear the Auror's head off.

"Our inescapable prison," she said, deathly calm, "has seen two breakouts in as many years." Her voice rose. "What in the name of Merlin are the Dementors doing?Tell them this is their second strike, one more and I'm replacing them!"

"Yes ma'am," the Auror said shakily before apparating away.

"It was a distraction," Mr Crouch said quietly.

Madam Bones nodding in agreement. "All this, just to get Pettigrew out," she sighed and shook her head. "All these dead to break out a rat!"

"Mr Crouch," Dad interjected, "I doubt this was a distraction from a breakout. If it was then they would have broken out someone powerful, like Bellatrix, or useful, like anyone but Pettigrew. I think this had another purpose, I don't know what, but Pettigrew just exploited the confusion."

"Hmm, that makes more sense," Ms Bones said nodding, she turned to Harry, "yes, that makes more sense, anyway, sorry to keep you for so long, you may leave now."

"Thank you, Mr Crouch I would like my wand back please," Harry said politely.

Mr Crouch blushed and handed back the wands that he had forgotten about in the excitement.

We walked as quickly as possible back to the portkey.

"Something doesn't make sense," I said. "Why did the death eaters leave after the Dark Mark was summoned?"

Dad scratched his chin. "I don't know. Death eaters usually want credit for their crime."

"Maybe they had finished what they came for and left the Mark as a sort of signature," John suggested.

"I suppose so, but their aim appeared to be to cause chaos, the fastest way to do that would be the Dark Mark," Alice said. "I didn't even know what it was and I was panicking."

"Maybe they had a real aim and the chaos was the distraction," I supplied.

"Well, the chaos would have been best for either an assassination or to free a prisoner," John said. "But, there was no prisoner here to free and I don't think anyone important died or the Aurors would have said something to Ms Bones."

"Was it all to set up Winky?" I asked. "You know, make Mr Crouch look bad, because the journalists are going to have a field day with this one."

"Yeah, I can just imagine how Rita Skeeter's going to skewer Mr Crouch for this," John said. "Ex-Top Auror's House Elf summons Dark Mark," he said, holding up his hands as if planning out a headline. "Then she'll do a two page spread bringing up every embarrassing moment from his past since he was two."

"Sounds like someone's been actually reading Skeeter's rubbish," Mr Weasley said wearily as he re-joined us.

We had almost made it to the portkey. Ron, Hermione, the twins and Ginny were waiting for us, they were standing around, looking very bored. Hermione and Ginny waved to us whilst Ron glared and the twins were having a nap.

"What took ya?" Ron asked grumpily.

"We had to deal with the Aurors," Dad said.

Ron grunted and walked over to the portkey.

"Ginny, wake your brothers," Mr Weasley said. "We're going home."

We took the portkey back and walked in a tired silence back to the Weasley's house.

"You're welcome to stay the night," Mr Weasley said.

"I think we'll be fine," Dad said. "I dropped some things off with Tom at the Leaky Cauldron, he's holding four rooms for us."

"Well, it was nice seeing you again," Mr Weasley said.

"Likewise," Dad said. "Oh, hang on, can we use your fireplace?"

"Of course," Mr Weasley said with a smile, "I had wondered how you were planning on getting to London."


	4. Chapter 4

We flooed to London and took the rooms Tom had held for us in the Leaky Cauldron. "This is your bag," Dad said handing me my bag, "yours," he handed Alice hers, "and yours," he handed John his. "Janet, don't forget Mrs O'Leary."

"I won't," I said, rolling my eyes, as if I would forget my new dog.

We separated and went to our rooms. I sent an Iris message to Mrs O'Leary telling her where to find me. Ten seconds later, she came bounding out the shadows, thankfully the shrinking charm dog collar had stayed on when she had shadow travelled. Her greeting was so enthusiastic it knocked me down. Mrs O'Leary jumped on my chest, thankfully weighing no more than an average beagle sized dog even though she was normally the size of a bus. I laughed as Mrs O'Leary's tickly tongue lapped at my face.

"Down girl," I choked out between giggles.

Mrs O'Leary complied, and obediently sat down on the floor.

"Now, be a good girl, I'm going to get a shower," I said, grabbing a towel. "Lie down." She obeyed, "now stay."

When I came back from my shower, no longer smelling of dog or ash, Mrs O'Leary had fallen asleep, lying face up with all four paws stretching towards the ceiling.

"You look very silly," I said.

She was making cute little excited whimpering sounds in her sleep as her paws twitched like she was dreaming of chasing something. I kept checking on her as I got changed into something for bed and brushed my hair. Now that she was the size of a normal dog she was cute. I felt safe when I went to bed that evening knowing I had the world's soppiest Hellhound at the foot of my bed.

* * *

I was woken by Mrs O'Leary; she had gotten her front paws on my bed and was staring at me. "Good girl," I said groggily, smiling at her as I scratched her behind the ear. She whimpered in appreciation.

I went through my morning routine as quickly as possible. After breakfast, I even manage to scrounge some offcuts of bacon and a spare sausage or two from Tom for her. He was not too happy about her presence until I explained she was my familiar, then he was more neutral but still not happy.

"I don't like pets in general, particularly dogs," he said sternly. "Now, I like you miss, and your Dad saved my life once, so you can have your dog in here. But if she breaks anything or messes on my floor she is sleeping outside. I know how important a familiar is, but dogs make a mess. If she does, she's outta here. You understand?"

"I understand Tom, thank you," I said as I left him with the little bundle he had given me.

After Mrs O'Leary had eaten her breakfast I took her for a walk around the nearest park so she could do her business, after that I returned for the rooms. I found Dad waiting for me.

"Where did you go by yourself?" he asked.

I arched an eyebrow at him, "I was not by myself, Mrs O'Leary was with me. I was walking her, because she is a dog. I stayed on larger streets away from the entrances of alleys and then I stayed on the footpath in the park. There were lots of people about, I was perfectly safe. Besides, I can handle myself."

Dad sighed. "Jan, I don't care how strong you are as a witch, neither does a street thug, look, don't go out without telling me."

"Okay Dad," I muttered.

"Good," Dad said, "after the attack yesterday, Diagon is quiet. I reckon we can get most our shopping done today without dealing with crowds. John and Alice are waiting for us by the entrance. Bring the dog," he said, looking at Mrs O'Leary, who was trying to get onto my bed.

"Here girl," I called as I turned to leave. Mrs O'Leary barked and trotted happily over to me.

"At least she's well trained," Dad muttered.

* * *

Diagon Alley was scared for a second year in a row, which did not bode well. The leaning buildings looked even more sinister as they closed over the road, blocking most of the sunlight. I had never noticed how sinister they were until I stood there in the almost deserted streets. I watched one of the homeless squibs slouch into a side street, hands in his pockets, his shoulders drooping. Between the leaning and the dark wood that they were mostly made of, the houses looked like dark fingers of a giant hand, which was not a comforting thought.

"Janet?" Alice asked. She reached out her hand and threaded her fingers between mine

I looked up at her and met her concerned rainbow coloured eyes. "I'm fine," I said smiling up at her, "just thinking about how creepy these streets are when they're deserted."

She smiled at me. "Everywhere's creepy without people. But I have you, and you have me, as long as we're together we're not alone."

I smiled back. "Thanks Alice." We continued walking down the street, hand in hand.

"So, where to first?" Dad asked.

"Well, I'd say first we go to the bank to get money, then we can go buy our textbooks from Coeus," I said as I searched my pockets for the list of books we would need. "Then the robes shop, I outgrew my normal robes and we need dress robes for some reason." I frowned. "Has anyone got my list of books?"

Dad reached into his pocket, and pulled out a folded piece of paper. "You mean the one you left in your room, but your dear ol' Dad remembered to pick up for you?"

I took the piece of paper. "Thanks Dad," I said, ignoring his sarcastic tone.

"What can I say, expect you're welcome?" He grinned, I rolled my eyes at him.

Coeus' shop had changed colour, the front was now bright orange, but otherwise nothing seemed to have changed about. We entered the shop, but we could not see Coeus anywhere. There were a couple of wizards wandering about the store. They were picking up books, reading books and generally acting normal.

"Hello!" Coeus said loudly as he appeared behind us, causing us to jump. "What can I do for you?"

I handed him my list of books, as did John and Alice. "We were wondering if you had these books."

"Weren't you shorter last year?" Coeus asked pointing at Dad.

"He's my Dad, last year we came here with my half-brother," I said, now slightly used to Coeus' eccentric personality.

"Oh, what happened to him?" Coeus asked looking at Dad suspiciously.

I sighed as I tried to think of how to word what I was going to say so that it would not tip of the magicians in the store. "He, um, joined your brother."

Coeus literally went grey as all the colour drained from him and his clothing (which was a red greatcoat, the similar to the kind associated with the Coldstream Guards on parade, brown trousers and black boots) leaving him looking like stone. "I liked him, how sad."

The colour suddenly rushed back into him. "Right, books!" He bustled off into the back of the store.

"He's certainly… different," Dad said. "I didn't expect him to be like this. He's not exactly a dignified Titan is he?"

"Hey, Coeus is great," I said, weakly punching his shoulder. "Be nice Dad."

"I wasn't saying he isn't," Dad said defensively, "he's just not as dignified as I expected a Titan to be."

"Dad, be nice," I hissed.

Dad held his hands up in mock defeat. "Alright, I'll not mention anything else."

I sighed, just as Coeus reappeared carrying three piles of books.

"Books!" he announced proudly. "You get some books and you get some books and you get some books!" He handed us each a pile of books.

We paid for the books and left quickly as Coeus was distracted by a different customer. We took a quick detour to the Leaky Cauldron to deposit our books and then it was on to the robes shop. Macker and Sons was the second oldest shop in Diagon Alley, behind only Ollivander's. They claim they were in Diagon Alley since the Norman invasion, and maybe even before that.

"Hello Mr Harker," an enthusiastic young man said as we walked in. He was the current Macker, a man of about thirty with a shaved head, a black handlebar moustache and jolly green eyes, who was a little shorter than Dad. He was dressed in a finely made shirt, patterned waistcoat and trousers, as would be expected for one of the best tailors in the world. "It's good to see you my friend. I take it you are here for school robes for your daughter and her friends. I heard that Hogwarts is requiring dress robes this year, so we are having quite the rush on them."

"Yeah, thanks Macker, how's life treating you?" Dad asked.

"As good as can be expected. I'm now rather glad I didn't buy World Cup tickets this year, my wife wasn't happy when I forgot, but I've been vindicated it seems. So, who needs new robes?"

I put up my hand, as did Alice and John, the latter reluctantly.

Macker laughed. "We're not at school kiddies. School robes are over there," he pointed at a long rack of robes. He then turned to John. "If you need formal robes, or want something more like a muggle suit, they're rather fashionable at the moment, they're over there." He pointed at a wall length rack of robes and suits. "If you can't find something in your size, I'll darn something for you, or make it for you, for a price of course."

"Thank you Mr Macker," I said as I searched the rack for something in my size.

"Say nothing of it," Macker said. "Anything for the daughter of my old friend here."

When Alice and I had picked out our school robes it was on to the dress robes, which took a ridiculous amount of time to choose. This was thanks to Macker insisting on making the tiniest of alterations, even when I could not see any visible result from his changes, but Macker insisted. In the end I had a flowing light silvery V-necked dress with a lighter silver flowery pattern sewn into the sleeves that went to my wrists. The dress was a little tighter than I would have liked it to be and had a slit that allowed me to actually walk in it, but Macker told me it was fashionable. Alice had chosen her dress but insisted I was not allowed to see it yet.

"Where's the surprise in that?" she asked playfully after she left the fitting room.

We paid for our clothing, thanked Mr Macker for his help, and left.

"I hate clothes shopping," Dad grumbled as we walked back to the Leaky Cauldron. "We wasted most of the morning buying clothes."

"It's not too bad," I said, "it's only two," I stroked Mrs O'Leary's head, we had to leave her outside Macker before going in. "I'm going to need to get you some dog toys and things, I'll need a brush, a bed, treats and a lead."

Dad and John groaned at the thought of more shopping.

Kings Cross' platform nine and three quarters was as busy as always when the time came to go to school. We (Alice, John and I) were soon able to find an unoccupied compartment and sat down, Mrs O'Leary curled up at my feet and promptly went to sleep.

"I'd love to be able to do that," John said smiling at my dog, "just be able to go to sleep whenever, wherever without a care in the world, no evil wizards, or monsters to worry about. Ignorance is bliss I suppose."

"A child of Athena just advocated ignorance," Alice said in mock horror. "Your mother would be horrified."

We both laughed good naturedly. John blushed but then joined in laughing as well. The train whistle blew, signalling our departure from the station. The sudden sound woke Mrs O'Leary. She lazily looked around the compartment before jumping up onto the bench next to John. John quickly pushed her off.

"No," I said sternly, "seats are for people, not dogs." Mrs O'Leary looked a little sad, but lay down on the floor and went back to sleep.

"Hey guys," a familiar voice said from the entrance.

We turned to see Ron, Harry and Hermione were standing there.

"Mind if we join you guys?" Ron asked.

I smiled at them. "Not at all."

Harry sat to my right whilst Alice was to my left. On the opposite bench, Ron was sandwiched between John, who had taken the window seat and Hermione who had taken the aisle. Mrs O'Leary was looking a little unhappy at the sudden arrival of so many people, as it meant she had less space to stretch out and go to sleep.

"So, this is Mrs O'Leary?" Hermione asked after we had all settled down and arranged our limbs to not be in each other's way.

"Yep," I said proudly, "my new dog."

Hermione scratched Mrs O'Leary between the ears, "she's cuter than I expected for a Hellhound, and smaller, I thought they're like the size of a bus."

I shrugged, "Mrs O'Leary is special."

"So, who do you reckon is the defence teacher?" Harry asked, changing the subject. "It's going to be hard to find anyone half as good as Lupin."

I froze. "Didn't I tell you at the World Cup?"

Everyone shook their heads.

"It's Alistair Moody, the legendary Auror."

"Wait, the Alistair Moody?" Ron asked paling. "The insane Auror who causes Dad and his boss a headache about once a month when he gets attacked by his bins, random birds and things only he can see? That Alistair Moody?"

I felt my cheeks flush angrily. "He's not insane!" I shouted, surprising everyone except Alice. I collected myself slightly before continuing at my normal volume, "He's my godfather."

Ron blushed.

"He taught my Dad and at least three generations of Aurors before him and another generation after him. He knows what he's doing. He might be a little paranoid, but he is a good man and definitely not insane."

"I'm sorry Janet," Ron said, "I only know what my Dad tells me and what they write in the newspapers, I've never met him. But he does have certain reputation, Rita Skeeter is going to have a field day when she finds this out," he sighed.

"Uncle Alistair taught me occlumency, legilimency and quite a lot of what I know about defence," I said. "He's a really good teacher."

"Wait, you're a legilimencer?" Ron asked looking suddenly very worried.

I frowned. "I'm pretty sure I told everyone about this at least once, or at least Luna did." I looked at Ron who still looked worried.

I sighed. "Ron I have never read your mind, and currently I have no intention to do so."

"Good," was all Ron said as he narrowed his eyes at me.

"Well, it's looking to be a good year," Harry said trying to change the subject. "We have a defence teacher we trust and the only convicted murderer to deal with is Pettigrew, who isn't exactly a threat, and I doubt there are more monsters hiding in Hogwarts."

"Hmm," I hummed lacing my fingers, "pretend inferiority to your enemy and encourage his arrogance."

"Did you get that from a fortune cookie?" Ron asked teasingly.

"Art of War actually, well, it was something along those lines," I said smiling at him.

He looked lost.

"The Art of War is a book about warfare written by the legendary general Sun Tzu in China a really long time ago," I explained. "It's considered the seminal work on tactics. It's still used to teach tactics this day. Any of this getting through? Earth to Ron?"

"Shut up, I heard you."

"As always Ron, your wits are as sharp as a shotput, and just as dense," John said snarkily.

The others laughed, Ron blushed.

"I still can't believe that they think a House Elf summoned the Dark Mark," Hermione said. "As if one of those poor oppressed creatures would even dream of supporting supremacists."

"Hermione," I started, "whilst I agree that a House Elf is incapable of summoning the Dark Mark, describing them as oppressed is technically incorrect."

"You just say that because you own one," Hermione said heatedly. "How could you own one like a piece of furniture?"

"We don't own Cobblepot," I said, feeling hurt, "we employ him. He has his own wages, which he spends primarily on suits and juice. However, you have to understand the mind of a House Elf, they don't want possessions or freedom, that's not how their minds work-"

"Janet, how could you even try to justify slavery?" Hermione shouted, sounding wounded by the idea.

I growled from frustration through gritted teeth. "Look, you are going about this wrong. You are looking at the mind of creature that is not human from the perspective of a human. We are hardwired to want things, that mind-set was how our species survived before we had magic and tools, but, House Elves were not wired like that. They lived by serving others, either others in their group or other creatures that saw their worth. They survived through magic rather than through hording."

"That doesn't make sense," Hermione said cocking her head. "You made it up."

"I spent my childhood growing up with a House Elf as my most constant companion," I said staring her in the eyes. "The mind-set of a House Elf is hard for us to understand, nearly impossible if you're not a legilimencer, but they like serving others. That does not justify the mistreatment of House Elves by people like the Malfoys, but to call them enslaved is factually incorrect."

"I refuse to believe that any sentient creature would choose servitude over freedom," Hermione said stubbornly.

"When we get to the castle remind me to introduce you to one of the House Elves, you'll see that they don't hate servitude."

Hermione looked horrified.

"What now?" I asked in exasperated

"Hogwarts uses slave labour?" Hermione asked in shock.

I groaned and facepalmed. "Two things, one, did any of that stick in your head? Did anything I say get through your head or did you just choose to ignore me? And two, how didn't you know? Did you think Filch did all the cooking, all the cleaning, all the laundry, and all the fixing that was needed in a castle the size of Hogwarts? They certainly can't conjure the food, Gamp's law wouldn't allow it."

"I didn't think about it," Hermione muttered, "I, I, need to think about this," she ran out of the compartment.

"I'll go check on her, you know make sure she doesn't do something stupid," Ron said as he went after her.

"Did Ron just say he'd stop Hermione doing something stupid?" Harry asked as he moved onto the opposite bench so give us more space.

"Oh good," John said, "I wasn't the only one hearing things. You might want to introduce her to those Elves sooner rather than later, before she embarrasses herself."

"Oh, there's no preventing that," Harry said. "She's got an idea in her head and won't stop until something dislodges it."

"So," a sneering voice said from the aisle, it was Draco, flanked by his goons. Crabbe and Goyle were starting to slim down and were even becoming almost intimidating as they were now both tall for our age and it looked like they were doing a lot more exercise than before. "This is where the blood traitors and the muggleborn hide. Pathetic, the lot of you. None of you should be at the school, you're barely wizards."

"I'm far more powerful than you are," I said as I stood up, which was a bad idea, seeing as I only came up to Draco's mouth, "so by your own logic neither should you nor your pets should be here."

"My family is old and powerful," Draco snarled, showing that I had clearly hit a nerve.

"So is mine," I replied with an eyeroll, "doesn't make you a better wizard."

"Our blood is pure; your bloodlines are so muddy they are starting to grow plants."

"That makes no sense, you do realise that the blood of muggles isn't literal mud, don't you?"

"Of course," Draco snapped, "I'm not a moron."

"Could have fooled me," I said smiling sweetly. "Besides, I'm fairly certain Ron and I have blood just as pure as yours."

Draco looked ready to burst an artery.

"Whoa Draco, think of your blood pressure, your shrivelled old man heart can't take it."

Draco punched at me, his form was sloppy and I saw it coming, I grabbed his wrist. "Not a good idea." I squeezed, he gasped in pain. "Now apologise."

"No!" He gasped. His goons hovered behind him, unsure what to do.

I squeezed tighter. "I would apologise if I was you, if I squeeze any more your wrist might break."

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry, I'm sorry I insulted you, I'm sorry I tried to punch you!"

I released him. He collapsed to all fours, massaging his wrist and glaring at me.

"Good boy, now, don't do it again," I said as I crouched next to him, "next time I won't be so nice. Now, get out."

Draco stumbled to his feet as I also stood "You'll pay for that, my Dad…"

"Has important friends, has connections, is rich, I've heard it before. But," I said smiling at him, "you're not going to tell him that you lost a fight with a blood traitor are you? Especially a fight you started, a fight in which only one punch was actually thrown and no spells were cast. Now get out."

Draco growled and left, muttering under his breath, his companions gave us what were probably meant to be death stares, but looked more like constipated monkeys.

I sat down again and let out a sigh of relief.

"Janet, that was awesome," Harry said.

I smiled at him."I really wish that hadn't ended in violence, even something minor like that."

"Minor? You threatened to break his wrist," Harry exclaimed.

I sighed. "I was nowhere near breaking his wrist, I just pushed his bones against each other. Painful, yes, wrist breaking, no."

"He had it coming," John said, "although I don't envy you dealing with Snape or McGonagall when we get to school. You know he's going to tell."

I groaned. "Don't remind me."

"I just did," he said smiling at me. I stuck out my tongue in response.


	5. Chapter 5

When we arrived at Hogwarts it was raining really heavily. Hermione and Ron had not returned to our compartment so I assumed Hermione was still angry with me. The rain did not bother me as we walked towards the horseless carriages as I had put a repelling charm on myself.

When we neared the carriages I jumped in surprise to see that they were being pulled by a leathery skinned painfully thin, almost skeletal, horse with giant bat-like wings (giving me a flashback to the Ares cabin's skeleton horses from chariot race). "What is that?"

"Threstrals," Luna commented airily as she glided over (her way of walking can really only be described as gliding).

"Oh, so that's what a Threstral looks like," I muttered, I noticed that Harry were looking at me like I had grown a second head, but John and Alice looked just as unsure as I felt.

"What're you two talking about?" Harry asked, "there's nothing there."

"Threstrals can only by those who have witnessed the death of another and comprehended it," I said sadly, I had seen more than a few Campers die during the Battle of the Labyrinth, and so had Alice and John.

"How come I can't see them?" Harry asked, frowning at the empty space, "I saw my parents and Quirrell die."

"You were too young to comprehend your parent's death Harry," I replied, "and you had passed out when Quirrell's body fell apart. Although, it's debatable whether Quirrell was alive, the way Voldemort possessed Quirrell had technically already killed Quirrell, he just didn't know it yet."

Harry shivered, "that's... disturbing."

I nodded, "yeah, now let's get in the carriage."

Hermione joined us just before the carriages set off, but Ron was nowhere to be seen. "Sorry I left so abruptly," she shouted over the wind and creaking of the cart. "I've heard rumours that were quite interesting and I had to share. Apparently there's going to be some competition this year arranged by the Ministry. I overheard Draco boasting about how he was going to win the glory for himself."

"It would be the first time his family has seen glory," John muttered, which made me giggle.

"So, are you going to take part?" Harry asked.

"Goodness no, it sounds really dangerous. By the way," Hermione said shifting to face me, "Janet, what did you do to Draco? Because he was being very rude about you and had some very offensive things to say about you."

"Well, we got into an argument over how blood worked, then he tried to punch me, then I made him apologise," I said flippantly, "not really anything that big."

"How did you make him apologise?" Hermione asked.

"I just squeezed his wrist, hard," I said with a shrug. "I didn't do any lasting damage, or much damage at all really."

"Janet, violence is not the answer, no matter how much Draco deserves it," Hermione said angrily.

"I seem to remember that you punched him last year."

Hermione opened her mouth. I raised an eyebrow. Hermione blushed and closed her mouth.

"Besides, he threw the first and only punch; I was just ending it before his gorillas did anything."

"You are getting in so much trouble for this," Hermione said, shaking her head.

"Maybe," I said with a shrug, "but Draco deserved it."

Hermione sighed and shook her head. "I'll never understand you."

I shrugged.

"Draco did throw the first punch," Alice chimed in, "I'm just happy Janet didn't do anything else."

I smiled and kissed her on the nose.

"Get a room," John said with a good natured smile.

Alice stuck her tongue out at him. "Jealous?" She smiled impishly.

"That you're kissing the prettiest girl in the class? Kind of," John said with a blush.

This surprised everyone.

"John, do you have a crush on Janet?" Hermione asked.

"A couple of years ago, yes, I did. But now, I have feelings for someone else," John said quietly as his blush deepened and spread.

"Guys, let's not pry into John's private life," I said as I felt my cheeks heat up.

"So, this competition, what did Draco say about it?" I asked Hermione, desperately trying to change the subject.

"Well," Hermione said lacing her fingers in front of her face, "he said that Minister Fudge told him about it, it's apparently going to be quite dangerous. The reward is going to be a lot of money and it's going to be covered in the Daily Prophet, so there's going to be a lot of fame and glory for the winner."

John groaned. "That probably means Rita Skeeter will be there."

We looked at him strangely.

"You know, the gossip journalist of questionable ethics who ruins peoples' lives?" John asked sarcastically.

"I'm well aware," I said, "she ran a piece about Uncle Alistair, I suppose I should call him Professor Moody now, she called him a menace to wizarding society."

"That sounds like Skeeter," John said angrily." She's said some horrible things to say about my family, most of which is untrue, and my family's reputation isn't exactly brilliant already."

The carriage stopped, we had arrived.

In the rain, clouds and lightening, Hogwarts looked like Dracula's castle rather than a school, especially with all the windows lit by lights, making them look like giant eyes in the gloom. We hurried inside and almost slipped on the slick tiles that were covered in a layer of water.

"Poor Filch," I said as I looked at all the pupils dripping on the floor, I decided to make it easier on him by subliming the water and sending the vapour out the door. With it being Hogwarts, everyone looked a bit confused before shrugging

"Peeves!" McGonagall shouted as she chased the poltergeist into the school foyer.

"Can't catch me," Peeves shouted as he threw a water balloon at a bunch of girls, who shrieked as their makeup ran and their clothes were soaked through even more. Peeves collapsed in a fit of laughter as he floated in the air.

"Someone get the Bloody Baron," McGonagall shouted.

"You called?" said the Baron in his hoarse voice as he arrived in the entrance hall. He took stock of the situation. "Peeves, knock it off."

"Yes sir," Peeves said dejectedly as he floated up through the ceiling.

"Thank you Baron," McGonagall said. The Baron nodded and sank through the floor.

"Well, that was exciting," John said smiling. "Never a dull moment with Peeves about."

"Thank goodness that the Baron was here before that got out of hand," Hermione said.

"You may go in now," McGonagall announced.

We filed into the Great Hall and sat down on the benches.

"Hey Harry!" a voice shouted next to us. We turned to see Colin Creevey, with his old-fashioned camera, he took a picture, the flash almost blinding us.

"Oh, hey Colin," Harry said awkwardly.

"Harry, guess what? Guess what, Harry? My brother's starting! My brother Dennis!"

"Er—that's good," Harry said, sounding totally uninterested.

"He's really excited!" Colin said, practically bouncing up and down in his seat.

"He's not the only one it seems," Alice muttered, earning her a kick in the shin from Hermione under the table. Alice glared at Hermione.

"I just hope he's in Gryffindor!" Colin continued. "Keep your fingers crossed, eh, Harry?"

"Er—yeah, all right," Harry said. He turned back to the rest of us. "Brothers and sisters usually go in the same Houses, don't they?" he said.

"It normally goes like that, but, not necessarily," Hermione said. "Parvati Patil's twin's in Ravenclaw, and they're identical. You'd think they'd be together, wouldn't you?"

"I'm glad they aren't in the same house," Alice muttered."It's bad enough with Parvati. I swear all I ever hear her talk about is who snogs the best or who's the hottest in the school or who does the best makeup. Why on earth would anyone want to talk about that?"

"Normal human girls," Hermione muttered.

I glared at her, she did not seem to notice, "which of those are we not?"

Hermione blushed, but did not reply.

"So, what? Do you talk about those things?" Ron asked Hermione.

Hermione blushed. "No, of course not," Hermione said indignantly, "I have far more important things to do."

"So, does that mean you have a crush on someone, Hermione?" I asked teasingly.

Hermione went into a fluster and tried to respond, but just ended up making a squawking sound, we laughed, Hermione joining in when she had regained her composure.

"Where are all the staff?" Harry asked.

I looked up at the staff table and tried to work out who was not there. "Well, Trelawney doesn't come here very often, Hagrid's out on the lake, it looks like Uncle Alistair, sorry, Professor Moody is not here yet, probably caught in the storm. McGonagall and Filch are cleaning up after Peeves and Snape, no-one cares why he isn't here yet." I turned back to the others. "Does that cover everyone?"

Hermione counted the teachers. "Everyone except Binns. He may be a ghost, but he still comes to the feasts."

"He probably got lost, it wouldn't be the first time," Harry suggested.

"I hope it's permanent," Alice muttered.

"Settle down!" Dumbledore called from his eagle lectern. "I'm sure you've noticed that we are later than usual. That is because as you have noticed a storm hampered the progress of our first years across the lake, but do not fret, only one fell in, and they are here safely now, so the sorting may begin."

The thoroughly soaked first years, led by an equally soaked Hagrid, walked into the Great Hall as the Sorting Hat sung its newest song.

"It must be really boring being a sentient hat," Alice commented, "just sitting on a shelf, waiting for your one day a year in which you are allowed to come out and have your moment, occasionally being used as a weird scabbard." The sorting dragged on as it always does. Nearly Headless Nick and the other ghosts were floating about shushing people. The class was definitely larger than the year before and Colin's brother was the one who fell in the lake, he was sorted into Gryffindor.

"I have only two words for you now," Dumbledore said, "tuck in!"

A cheer went up as the rather damp pupils excitedly piled food onto their plates, everyone except Hermione.

I rolled my eyes. "Hermione, is this still over House Elves?"

"Of course, I'm not eating something made with slave labour."

I facepalmed. "Hermione, you're just wasting food. There's no point in starving yourself out of a principle you don't understand, the only food you are going to get at Hogwarts is made by House Elves. Besides, as I already said, the Elves are happy, if you don't believe me go down to the kitchen and listen to them, you'll hear them laugh, sing and dance. Hermione oppressed slaves don't laugh, sing and dance that happily like that while they work."

Hermione eyed the food hungrily, "I'll eat the food, but only because I don't want their hard work to go to waste, not because I support the system."

"Well, that's something," I said with a small smile before I returned to eating.

When everyone had eaten more than was good for them (even Mrs O'Leary, who I was subtly feeding under the table) Dumbledore stood up at the podium again. "I know that usually I do announcements at the beginning, but due to the late start I decided food was more important. Firstly, Mr Filch would like to remind pupils of several things; first and foremost, the Forbidden Forest is still off limits without accompaniment by a member of the teaching staff or Mr Filch. Secondly, please be advised that the outside surfaces of the castle are slippery when wet, particularly on the way to the Divinations tower."

There was a collective cringe as people remembered poor Bobby who had fallen off the year before whilst mucking about on a parapet.

"Finally, the list of forbidden items has been expanded. The ever-growing list includes portable swamps, knives that are not letter openers without a parental letter with a valid explanation for their presence and peanuts, as some students apparently have allergies. The full list is nailed to Mr Filch's door. He recommends that new pupils go read the list, and old pupils who may have forgotten the specifics."

"Like that's going to happen!" someone shouted from the back of the room.

"Whilst I know the list is over four hundred items long, it is important that pupils know what is not allowed. Secondly, there will be no official Quidditch cup or matches this year."

People started outright booing Dumbledore.

"You've got to be kidding!" Fred shouted.

Dumbledore silenced the room with a raised hand, "I am not kidding Mr Weasley. However, I have been told training will still be taking place and that several prefects have expressed an interest in organising a pupil run Quidditch cup. The reason for the cancellation is due to the next announcement; Hogwarts will be hosting the Triwizard Tournament."

There was a lot of muttering over that. I was totally lost, I had never heard of the Tournament before. Dumbledore raised a hand and everyone was silenced again. He was about to speak when the doors banged open and a figure stopped in the doorway. I could not see who it was, but there was no mistaking the wooden leg, it was Uncle Alistair.

"Sorry I'm late," he announced loudly, "my portkey deposited me half a mile away." He limped up to the teacher's table.

"May I introduce our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Moody," Dumbledore said.

There was a polite round of applause but it was almost overshadowed by the sound of murmured conversations.

Uncle Alistair reached into his coat, took out a battered hip flask, and took a long swig. I sighed. I had hoped he would not have brought it with him.

"What's in the flask?" Ron asked.

"Whiskey probably," I said. "it's what he usually has. Sometimes its tea though but that's a rarity, he only has it when he runs out of whiskey."

"Please, settle down," Dumbledore said, and everyone was respectfully silent. "The Triwizard Tournament, as I'm sure some of you are aware," he seemed to look directly at Hermione, "is a tournament that has not been held for over a century. The Tournament was first held some seven hundred years ago as a friendly competition between the three largest European schools of wizardry. Those schools are Hogwarts here in Scotland, Beauxbatons in France, and Durmstrang in Scandinavia."

There were mutters of disapproval for the last one. Durmstrang had a rather infamous reputation for producing dark wizards.

"A champion was selected to represent each school and the three champions competed in three magical tasks. The schools took it in turns to host the tournament once every five years and it was generally agreed to be a most excellent way of establishing ties between young witches and wizards of different nationalities. The Tournament continued until the schools started getting too creative with their challenges in order to top the previous Tournament. The result was less than desirable. There were accidents and the death toll from said accidents mounted so high that the tournament was discontinued. There was one tournament where seven people died who were not even in the Tournament, one was not even on the school grounds at the time."

"Delightful," John said disapprovingly.

"It sounds almost as dangerous as capture the flag," Alice said jokingly, "just with less safety precautions and less campers."

"Now, the Minister, Mr Ludo Bagman in the Department of Sports and Games, and Mr Barty Crouch in the Department of International Magical Cooperation have decided that this is a good idea. I shall withhold judgement on that until I see how this year's Triwizard Tournament goes. The students from the other schools and their Heads will be arriving in October, so you will be expected to look your best, behave your best and just be your best. The pupils from the other schools will be staying here all year, so be polite and courteous. We have worked hard over the summer to ensure that this time no champion will find himself or herself in mortal danger. The selection of the three champions will take place at Halloween. An impartial judge will decide which students are most worthy to compete for the Triwizard Cup, the glory of their school, and a thousand Galleons personal prize money."

"I'm going for it!" Fred Weasley shouted down the table, a broad smile on his face as he thought about the pranks he could pull with that money. He was not the only person who seemed to be visualising themselves as the Hogwarts champion. At every House table I could see people gazing distantly at Dumbledore as if they were thinking about what they would do with the money.

"Eager though I know all of you will be to bring the Triwizard Cup to Hogwarts," Dumbledore said, silencing the room, "the Heads of the participating schools, along with the Ministry of Magic, have agreed to impose an age limit. That is to say, only students who are seventeen years of age or older will be allowed to put forward their names for consideration. This," Dumbledore raised his voice slightly, for several people had made noises of outrage at these words, particularly the Weasley twins who were suddenly looking furious, "is a measure we feel is necessary. Given that the tournament tasks will still be difficult and dangerous, whatever precautions we take, and it is highly unlikely that students below sixth and seventh year will be able to cope with them. I will personally be ensuring that no underage student hoodwinks our impartial judge into making them Hogwarts champion." His light blue eyes twinkled as he saw Fred's and George's outraged faces. "I therefore beg you not to waste your time submitting yourself if you are under seventeen. I know you will give your whole-hearted support to the Hogwarts champion when he or she is selected. And now, it is late, and I know how important it is to you all to be alert and rested as you enter your lessons tomorrow morning. Bedtime! Chop chop!"Pupils slowly filed out the room all talking excitedly.

"What a ridiculously arbitrary cut-off," Fred was complaining to everyone who did not want to listen.

"Yeah, we're seventeen in April," George agreed, "why can't we compete?"

"A thousand galleons," Ron said dreamily, "that's a lot of money."

"That's a lot of money the Ministry is putting on this tournament," John said as we made our way up the stairs.

"Yeah, I think the ties with the other two schools are more important," I said. "The Ministry still has a bad reputation from when You-Know-Who was about. Heck, the whole magical community in Britain has a reputation from his war."

"So, this is about building bridges with the two largest schools in Europe?" John asked, "I can see that working if they have fond memories of Hogwarts they're going to think fondly of the entirety of Britain."

"As long as no-one dies this will work," I said, "if a death eater shows up this whole thing blows up in Fudge's face and he'll probably have to resign."

"Wouldn't it be great if we didn't have to deal with a crisis this year," Alice said wistfully, "we've had at least two a year since we came here. Well, we were out the country for the lightning theft, but still…"

"Something would be very wrong if we didn't have a crisis," I said light-heartedly. "That would just mean the Fates were storing bad luck for something big."

"I don't think it works like that," Alice said smiling at me.

"Sure it does," I said smiling back. I heard someone facepalm.

"I've missed my floor," John said sounding embarrassed. "See you later," he said as he turned around and walked down the stairs.

"See you John," I said.

"Yeah, see you," Alice said.

When he disappeared from sight I realised we were alone on the stairs. "Did we take a wrong turn?" I asked.

"Sort of," Alice said, suddenly very serious. "We were meant to get off on the last floor, but I was wondering something. When are we going to tell everyone? I mean, we can't just not tell everyone that we're going out, especially if there's a going to be a formal ball of some kind." She pulled me close and kissed me on the nose.

"I'm a little nervous about telling people," I said, very aware of our proximity. I wanted to kiss her, but needed to finish what I was saying first. "Wizards are notoriously conservative about these things. But I agree we should tell them eventually, we can't keep it a secret forever."

"Well," Alice said kissing my cheek, "I would suggest we wait for a while, you know get settled in for the year, then see how it goes. Maybe ask Ginny to tell people so that it doesn't seem a surprise for them to see us together."

"That might work," I said, with a coy smile.

"I bet straight couples don't have to deal with this," Alice said, kissing me on the lips. A long lingering kiss that made everything seem to stop.

I smiled sadly back to her."Gotta love societal norms," I said with a wink.

"Come on," Alice said sadly, "we should get to the Common Room before people get suspicious."

I sighed sadly and we shared one final lingering kiss before we made our way to the Common Room.


	6. Chapter 6

The next morning was bright and sunny, if a little frosty, and the sky a happy blue, much to everyone's annoyance. Not used to waking early after a summer of being able to languish in bed, everyone was a little shell-shocked by the early start, well, except the Demigods, who had to get up early anyway at Camp. At breakfast, McGonagall handed out the timetables, which elicited a groan from second year pupils who were starting the year off with a Snape. I was surprised she did not pull me aside over the Malfoy incident on the train. I expect he was too embarrassed after the fight to go tattling.

"Herbology," Ron said with a defeated sigh "It's too early to deal with plants that want to kill me."

"Well," Harry said, "we've got Care of Magical Creatures after that, so that's good, and then you can have a nap in double Divinations."

"I wonder what's in Ancient Runes this year," I said as I noticed that my timetable no longer had overlapping subjects, instead I had extra lessons for Ancient Runes. That was good, as I had to return my Time Turner after someone had misused theirs. That someone had been Hermione and Harry, who had crossed their own timeline to save Harry at the lake and Buckbeak on his execution day. I could not blame them for doing that, but the Unspeakables had spent ages dealing with the paradox they made so the Time Turners were confiscated. I had been forced to drop a subject to make room; I chose Muggle Studies, because it was mostly lies or outdated. The scheduling conflict between Arithmancy and Care of Magical Creatures from the previous year had been resolved as well.

"Latin," Hermione said. "Less used in its written form than Greek, but still useful for magic."

"Looks like I'm talking to Babbling about skipping this year, again," I said. "Cobblepot taught me Latin ages ago."

"Show off," Hermione muttered. I stuck my tongue out at her.

"If you two find Divination so dull, you should have dropped it like I did," Hermione said to Ron and Harry. "Arithmancy is a far better subject."

Ron grimaced. "Not likely. I prefer staring into a crystal ball over staring at a sheet of numbers."

"There's more to it than just staring at a sheet of numbers," Hermione exclaimed sounding insulted.

"Hermione, calm down," I said, "Arithmancy isn't for everyone. We all have things we're good at and things we aren't. Ron may not be able to do maths very well, but he's becoming quite good at defence."

"Thanks," Ron said smiling smugly at Hermione.

"Well, except you Janet, you're the best at everything you do," Hermione said jealously, she realised what she said and covered her mouth.

"That's not true," I said smiling fondly. "I can't sing, or dance, or draw, I think Neville is far better than me at Herbology, and Alice is better with animals. I'm passable at best with a sword and dreadful with a bow, I don't think I've ever actually hit a target, I can't do blacksmithing and I still have trouble with reading in English. I can't style hair or apply makeup particularly well, I have no clue about fashion. Hermione, I'm not the best at everything, I'm just very good at some things and terrible at others."

"May I speak with you dear?" Professor Babbling said as she hobbled over. "Come with me to my office, I'll give you a note to explain why you will may be late for your first lesson."

"I'll see you guys in Herbology I guess," I said as I stood up and cleaned the toast crumbs from my robes.

"See you Janet," Alice replied, smiling up at me. Ron was too busy shovelling food into his face to notice me leave and Hermione was too busy telling him off for eating too quickly to notice either.

"So how was your summer?" Babbling asked tapping along with her cane as we entered the almost deserted corridors, Mrs O'Leary padding along behind us.

"Do you want an honest answer to that, or just fine?" I asked.

Babbling smiled. "I see you got a new dog." Mrs O'Leary cocked her head as she realised she was being talked about. "I knew that owl wouldn't suit you."

"Yeah, I inherited her, I suppose that's the best way to put it, from Daedalus, he finally died over the summer."

Babbling did not look surprised. "I met Daedalus once, he called himself Quartus. I wandered into his labyrinth in the early 19th Century," I blinked in surprise at Babbling's comment but decided not to make any comments about her age, wizards do have strange lifespans. "Such a nice man, he escorted me out to safety. Chiron never believed me," she smiled at me. "He had that dog back then as well, never told me where she came from, or how he tamed her. Is she still as soppy as I remember her?"

"I don't know how soppy you remember her being, but she's still a big softy, except if you're her enemy," I said as I tickled Mrs O'Leary behind the ears.

We arrived at her office, she unlocked the door and we went inside, she shut the door and pressed a symbol on the wall, the symbol glowed green and I recognised it as anti-eavesdropping mark.

"We can talk freely now, I doubt even Dumbledore could listen through that," Babbling said as she sat me down. Suddenly the kindly old grandma exterior was replaced with an experienced Demigod. "What's happened in America? Something big, I know Kronos is back, but something happened over the summer. No new Demigods joined Hogwarts this year, three others did not return, including your half-brother. There was a battle of some kind, and I want to know what happened."

"Last Winter Solstice," I started before she cut me off.

"I know, Atlas escaped and was put back into his prison, I heard about that, Coeus told me. What happened over the summer? There was a global earthquake; something like that only comes from someone in our family doing something."

"Kronos tried to invade Camp through the Labyrinth, there was an entrance inside Camp, we had a big battle, I don't know how many died," I said wiping a tear from my eye, "most of the dead were nature spirits and satyrs." I swallowed as I continued. "Drake, he, he didn't die, but I wish he did. He defected, he joined Kronos!"

An inkpot shattered on Babbling's desk. I jumped and quickly got a control of my magic.

Babbling went over to her desk and put a handkerchief that she pulled from a drawer on the ink. The handkerchief soaked it all up and all the broken glass vanished. "Janet, Demigods do stupid things. That's not news to you, we are emotional creatures, more so than wizards and far more so than muggles. We act on impulse more due to our hardwiring for battle; we try to correct what we perceive to be moral wrongs with the world. That's why Kronos' cause is so attractive to them, they want to fix everything wrong with society. Some view a fresh page as the only way of doing this. Even if they are right, Kronos will never let humanity reach this level of civilisation again, he hates it. Titans like him view humans as little more than a clever animal."

"I know," I said holding back tears that wanted to spring to my eyes, "it's just, it hurts losing a brother to the enemy. I taught him everything I knew about Greek magic. I ignored how tired and nervous he was, how his face darkened whenever we talked about anything to do with the war, I ignored that he never spoke out against Kronos. I ignored it, because he was my brother and I didn't want to believe he would, could, change like that."

Babbling handed me a second handkerchief that she pulled from her drawer. "Here blow your nose, keep it afterwards."

I accepted the handkerchief, blew my nose, and wiped my eyes.

"He's not gone yet, he's not lost forever. He may still come back, but until then, you have to know, if you meet him on the battlefield, you may have to kill him, Janet. You understand that, I hope," she said sternly.

I tried to meet her eyes, but could not. "I don't know if I will be able too," I said quietly, "he's my brother."

"Not anymore, now, on the battlefield, he's your enemy. You have to understand that."

I nodded sadly.

"Now," she said clasping her hands and transferring back into friendly grandmother mode, "for the reason I brought you here, before we got side-tracked talking about our family. Will you be attending class this year, or are you fluent in Latin as well?"

"I believe myself to be," I said, feeling unsure of myself as I wiped away another tear.

"Well, same as last year, come to my office after supper tonight and I'll give you the hardest test I can find. Get a top mark and you may skip this year's work and re-join the class next year for hieroglyphs."

"Thanks, Professor," I said smiling weakly.

"One final thing, that book I leant you on the language of magic, how's it going?"

"Kind of okay, it's a little harder than expected, seeing as it's far more precise than my normal runes," I said. "It's kind of like painting, if a line is a little off it ruins the whole thing. Hellenic runes are much more lenient, you just have to get the shape right as closely as possible, and they are also far less complex."

"Yes, the runes in the book I leant you are all about precision," Babbling agreed, "you can set exactly how strong you want a spell to turn out just by using a different rune, rather than just telling a rune to heat something up you can tell it how hot you want it."

"I just can't see myself using the runes a lot, there is too much margin for error, whilst I can get the same result from Hellenic runes."

Babbling frowned at me. "I can see what you're saying, but these runes are more effective if you have time. Besides, a witch can't have too many options," she said with a smile. "That will be all, I have a lesson to prepare for. Go to Herbology, I've got a note for you here." She handed me a folded piece of paper. "Please apologise to Sprout for me, I kept you longer than planned."

"I will, thank you Professor," I said as I pressed the symbol on her wall and walked out of the room.

I was walking down the corridor when I suddenly felt dizzy and nauseous, like when Titan magic was used. I stumbled over to the window to be sick. I looked out of the window. Everything was slowing until it finally stopped. When everything stopped my nausea cleared.

"Janet," a voice I knew well said.

I turned to face Drake, he was dressed in full plate bronze armour, his visor pushed up to the top of his head. On his helmet, on a raised shield just below the raised visor, was a pair of crossed torches over a vertical key, Mum's symbol. He looked tired and exhausted, probably from whatever spell he cast.

I drew my wand and the dagger Uncle Alistair gave me. I hesitated. "What do you want traitor?"

"Just one last chance to convince you to join our side, put that away, this is just a projection."

I lashed out with my dagger.

He did not flinch as the dagger went through his arm, which shimmered. "I told you so, Janet, please join us, you and Lou are the only ones of Mum's mortal children who haven't. Did you know we have over a dozen siblings?"

I was surprised how many had been missed. "Let me guess, they're all untrained and you don't plan to train them."

"I'll train them to be able to survive in a fight, but I'm just one man and I have other responsibilities," he said nonchalantly.

"You also don't want to be upstaged as Kronos' pet wizard," I said as I sheathed the dagger and the wand I.

"That too. Please join us Janet," Drake pleaded.

"No, you tried to kill me," I reminded him, "why do you want me to join suddenly? Let me guess, Mum won't side against any of her children?"

"I just really miss you," Drake said in the least convincing lie ever.

I crossed my arms and glared.

"Okay, fine, she refuses to help unless you and Lou join."

"Jog on Drakey," I said making a shooing motion with my hands.

"You'll regret this bitch," Drake growled as he flickered out of existence.

I looked out the window, everything had restarted, the birds were flying again. I took a moment to breath and check how I looked in the window. I began fussing over my hair, before I froze, I had never really cared about how I looked before. I shrugged and then ran to Herbology.

* * *

"And that's how to make a strangler grape stop strangling you," Sprout said as I entered the glasshouse as quietly as possible. "Nice of you to join us Miss Harker," Sprout said frowning angrily at me and putting her hands on her hips, "you are fifteen minutes late."

Draco snickered.

"I'm sorry I'm late, I had to talk to Professor Babbling, she gave me a note and asked me to apologise on her behalf for keeping me for so long," I said, as I handed her the note.

Sprout snatched the note. "Not the best start to the year." She read the note. "Humph, take the place next to Ron, he needs the help."

I quietly took my spot to Ron, who was blushing at Sprout's assessment of him.

"You'll have to copy the notes my dear, I don't have time to repeat myself." She addressed the whole class, "Today's practical is with the plants in front of you, Bubotubers and strangling grapes."

I looked down, there was a small black plant, about ten inches tall, it looked like a black slug with small, shiny, yellow swellings. It smelt like petrol. Next to it sat a grape vine that was strangling a lump of pottery. "

What can anyone tell me about Bubotubers?" Sprout asked.

I put up my hand, as did Neville and Hermione.

"Yes, Janet," Sprout said.

"Bubotuber pus is a major ingredient in acne cream, and is often used in its raw form in practical jokes, as it can have unpredictable side effects," I said. "The flesh of the bubotuber is mildly toxic, but only in large quantities."

"Good, five points Gryffindor," Sprout said. "Put your gloves on everyone, we are going to be harvesting Bubotuber pus."After forty minutes of a delightful time discussing the proper way of collecting the pus, and then demonstrating this collection technique, we were all rather unhappy, and a few people looked more than a little ill. We were all relieved to be able to leave the glasshouse and go see Hagrid for Care for Magical Creatures.

* * *

I sent Mrs O'Leary off to play on her own so she would not scare whatever Hagrid had for us. When we arrived, Hagrid had a big smile on his face (which is usually a sign for concern). He was standing next to some boxes, which occasionally made farting sounds.

"Hagrid, what is that sound?" I asked. "And what's in the box?"

"Oh, these," Hagrid said excitedly, which is a sign that whatever it was almost definitely either dangerous, disgusting, or both. "Be'er wait fer the Slytherins, they won' want ter miss this, Blast-Ended Skrewts!"

"Come again?" Ron asked, confusion painted on his face.

Hagrid pointed down into the boxes. We all crowded round to have a look. The Blast-Ended Skrewts looked like deformed, soft insects, or maybe lobsters. They were disgustingly pale and slimy-looking, with legs sticking out in very odd places and no visible heads. They looked like an evolutionary mistake.

"Urgh," Alice shuddered, "it looks like what I imagine a baby vogon looks like." Hermione chuckled, which made me assume it was a muggle reference that I did not get.

There were about a hundred of them in each box, each about half a foot long, wriggling over one another, bumping blindly into the sides of the boxes. They stank of rotting fish, far worse than any dock. On occasion, sparks would fly out of the end of a skrewt and, with a small puff of something, it would be propelled forward several inches.

"Well," I said wrinkling my forehead while I was trying to figure out what to say, "they're… um, certainly, um, a, um, thing."

"On'y jus' hatched," Hagrid said proudly, "so yeh'll be able ter raise 'em yerselves! Though' we'd make a bi' of a proje' of it!"

"Oh, great," Alice muttered. It was a bad sign that even the animal lover was unenthusiastic about these things.

"And why would we want to raise them?" said an arrogantly sneering voice.

The Slytherins had unfortunately arrived. The speaker was everyone's least favourite brat, Draco Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle were chuckling moronically at his words, but they would probably chuckle at their own farts. Hagrid looked stumped at the question.

"I mean, what do they do?" Malfoy asked, "What is the point of them?"

Hagrid opened his mouth, apparently thinking hard. I was sorely tempted to step in, but I wanted to know the answer as well. There was a few seconds' pause, then he said roughly, "Tha's next lesson, Malfoy, yer jus' feedin' 'em today. Now, yeh'll wan' ter try 'em on a few diff'rent things. I've never had 'em before, not sure what they'll go fer. I got ant eggs an' frog livers an' a bit o' grass snake, just try 'em ou' with a bi' of each."

"First pus and now this," Seamus muttered, and the class nodded in agreed disgust.

"So, who's going to get theirs first?" Ron asked, pointing at the skrewts.

We cringed as we picked up squelchy handfuls of frog liver and lowered them into the crates to tempt the Blast-Ended Skrewts. I couldn't suppress the suspicion that the whole thing was entirely pointless, because the skrewts didn't seem to have mouths.

"Ouch!" Dean yelled after the first ten minutes resulted in a total lack of feeding. "It got me!"

Hagrid hurried over to him, looking anxious. "Its end exploded!" Dean said angrily, showing Hagrid a burn on his hand.

"Ah, yeah, that can happen when they blast off," Hagrid said nodding sagely, but I think he was as lost I was.

"Eurgh!" Lavender Brown squeaked. "Eurgh, Hagrid, what's that po

inty thing on it?""Ah, some of 'em have got stings," Hagrid said enthusiastically (Hagrid's love of dangerous animals was rather concerning).

Lavender quickly withdrew her hand from the box with another squeak .

"I reckon they're the males… The females've got sorta sucker things on their bellies… I think they might be ter suck blood, or they might be the males and the females have stingers."  
"Well, I can certainly see why we're trying to keep them alive," Malfoy said sarcastically, "who wouldn't want pets that can burn, sting, and bite all at once?"

"Just because they're not very pretty, it doesn't mean they're not useful," Hermione snapped.

"Dragon blood's amazingly magical, but you wouldn't want a Dragon for a pet, would you?"

Harry, and Ron grinned at Hagrid, who gave them a furtive smile from behind his bushy beard. It was known in our little group that Hagrid would have liked nothing better than a pet dragon, as we had witnessed in first year with Norbert (or Norberta) the Norwegian Ridgeback.

In the end we gave up feeding them and Hagrid started talking about the proper way of doing research into animals you find, which authors are trustworthy and how to tell if a book is any good.

* * *

"Well, at least the skrewts are small," I said as we made our way back up to the castle for lunch an hour later.

"They are now," Hermione said in an exasperated voice, "but once Hagrid's found out what they eat I expect they'll be six feet long."

"Well, that won't matter if they turn out to cure seasickness or something, will it?" Ron said, grinning slyly at her.

"You know perfectly well I only said that to shut Malfoy up," Hermione said. "As a matter of fact I think he's right, the best thing to do would be to stamp out the lot of them before they start attacking us all."

"I don't know. Now that I think about it, I think they're pretty useful." Alice said.

"What?" Harry said. "How?"

"Easy, we could throw them at Snape and find out if the stingers actually work. I don't know about the rest of you, but I would love to see that, or maybe we just throw them at Draco." Alice said. We all shared a laugh at that thought.


	7. Chapter 7

After lunch it was time for our completely batty Divination teacher, Trelawney. She started the lesson like usual by predicting death in Harry's near future, then lots of death in my near future and that Neville would get an embarrassing rash.

"My dears, it is time for us to look to the stars," Professor Trelawney said, finally boring of the usual predictions of death. "The movements of the planets and the mysterious glimpses of the future that they reveal can only be understood by those who understand the steps of their celestial dance. Human destiny may be deciphered by the planetary light and lines of movement, which intermingle..."

I drifted as Trelawney babbled on. I began contemplating how Uncle Alistair was going to teach defence; probably in his usual way, with a mixture of paranoia and mad genius.

I was pulled from my daydream by a harsh whisper meant for someone else.

"Harry!" Ron muttered.

"What?" Harry said. I was pleasantly surprised to see I was not the only person to have zoned out on Trelawney's lecture on planets.

"I was saying, my dear, that you were clearly born under the baleful influence of Saturn," Professor Trelawney said, a faint note of anger in her voice at the fact that he had obviously not been hanging on her words.

"Born under—what, sorry?" Harry said, letting out a half laugh as he tried to understand what she was saying.

"Saturn, dear, the planet Saturn!" Professor Trelawney said, raising her voice, clearly infuriated by Harry's confusion and absent-mindedness. "I was saying that Saturn was surely in a position of power in the heavens at the moment of your birth, your dark hair, your mean stature, the tragic losses so young in life. I think I am right in saying, my dear, that you were born in midwinter?"

"No," Harry said frowning in confusion, "I was born in July." There was a stifled laugh from several classmates.

Half an hour later, Trelawney had given us the most confusing table I had seen since Ron tried to explain the Quidditch championship. The calculations required working with some very interesting measuring apparatus (including a notched stick, a pair of tweezers and a piece of string) and some complicated maths that looked to belong in Arithmancy.

"I've got two Neptunes here," Harry said in a questioning voice, frowning down at his piece of parchment, "that can't be right, can it?"

"Aaaaaah," Ron said, imitating Professor Trelawney's mystical whisper, "when two Neptunes appear in the sky, it is a sure sign that a midget in glasses is being born, Harry..."

Alice sniggered, as well as Seamus and Dean who were nearby. I rolled my eyes at my classmates.

"I've got bingo!" Someone shouted, causing half the class to burst out laughing.

"Oh Professor, look!" Lavender Brown exclaimed. "I think I've got an unexpected planet! Oooh, which one's that, Professor?"

"It is Uranus, my dear," Professor Trelawney said, peering down at the chart.

"Can I have a look at Uranus too, Lavender?" Ron said. No-one laughed, instead people either rolled their eyes or just looked at Ron in disgust.

Unfortunately, Professor Trelawney heard him. She turned and glowered at him. It was maybe because of this that she gave us so much homework at the end of class. "I would like a detailed analysis of the way the planetary movements in the coming month will affect you, with reference to your personal chart," she snapped, sounding much more like Professor McGonagall than her usual airy self. "I want it ready to hand in next Monday, and no excuses. I don't care if a Dementor got your cat, I want that chart."

* * *

"Miserable old bat," Ron said bitterly as we joined the crowds descending to the Great Hall and dinner. "That'll take all weekend, that will..."

"Lots of homework?" Hermione asked brightly, catching up with us. "Professor Babbling didn't give us any at all!"

"Well, bully for Professor Babbling," Ron said moodily.

"No-one says bully anymore," Alice said, rolling her eyes.

We reached the entrance hall, which was full with people queuing for seats at dinner. We had just joined the end of the line, when a loud voice rang out behind us.

"Weasley! Hey, Weasley!" We groaned and turned to see Malfoy flanked by the goons.

"What?" Ron growled.

"Your dad's in the paper, Weasley!" Malfoy said, unrolling a copy of Daily Prophet and speaking very loudly so that everyone in the packed entrance hall could hear. "Listen to this!"

"FURTHER MISTAKES AT THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC  
It seems as though the Ministry of Magic's troubles are not yet at an end, writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. Recently under fire for its poor crowd control at the Quidditch World Cup, and still unable to account for the disappearance of one of its witches, the Ministry was plunged into fresh embarrassment yesterday by the antics of Arnold Weasley, of the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office _._ "

Malfoy looked up and smiled evilly. "Imagine them not even getting his name right, Weasley. It's almost as though he's a complete nonentity, isn't it?"

Everyone in the entrance hall was listening now. Malfoy straightened the paper with a flourish to impress the crowd and read on: "Arnold Weasley, who was charged with possession of a flying car two years ago, was yesterday involved in a tussle with several Muggle law-keepers ("policemen") over a number of highly aggressive dustbins. He appears to have rushed to the aid of "Mad-Eye" Moody, the aged ex-Auror who retired from the Ministry when no longer able to tell the difference between a handshake and attempted murder."

I was not happy with that, it had been an honest mistake, and everyone knew that. Besides, the Finnish Minister had understood, once he got out the hospital.

"Unsurprisingly, Mr Weasley found, upon arrival at Mr Moody's heavily guarded house, that Mr Moody had once again raised a false alarm. Mr Weasley was forced to modify several memories before he could escape from the policemen, but refused to answer Daily Prophet questions about why he had involved the Ministry in such an undignified and potentially embarrassing scene."  
"And there's a picture, Weasley!" Malfoy said, flipping the paper over and holding it up. "Look at the picture of your parents outside their house," he choked on a laugh, "if you can call it a house! Your mother could do with losing a bit of weight, couldn't she?"

Ron was shaking with fury. Everyone was staring at him.

I punched Malfoy.

He fell back on the floor clutching his nose. "She broke my nose!"

"I punched your cheek you moron," I said as Malfoy continued floundering on the floor. People started laughing at him. "Now, stop doing a banshee impersonation and go away, you're not wanted here."

"You'll pay for that," Malfoy growled as he stood up, his cheek starting to bruise where I hit him.

"No, not really," I said flatly. "Leave my friends alone you ferret faced little brat."

Malfoy tried to punch me. I stepped out the way and gave him a hard shove. He stumbled several feet before colliding with Neville, knocking them both down, "sorry Neville,"

"It's ok," he mumbled as they both started getting to their feet.

I shook my head. "You don't learn, do you?"

"Get her," Malfoy shouted. He looked furious.

Crabbe and Goyle started walking towards me, gormless smiles on their faces. When Alice pushed through the crowd to my side, they faltered, remembering first year.

"I'll take Pinky, you take Perky?" Alice suggested.

"Which one's which?" I asked.

"I don't know, I'm not sure which one's Crabbe and which is Goyle," Alice said with a determined smile.

Malfoy stood up and went over to his goons. "Get them!" he shouted in exasperation.

"But, boss," one said, "she hurt me badly in first year. I don't wanna."

"I don't care, they are smaller than you, so get them!" Draco shouted. "Are you scared of two girls?"

"Yeah," the other one muttered.

"Huh, Pavlov was right, stupid animals can learn new behaviours," I muttered. I looked at Draco, "well, not all stupid animals."

Draco must have heard me, because he drew his wand and a curse flew at me. I ducked out of the way.

"Oh, we're doing this are we?" I asked drawing my wand

"Shut up you pathetic blood traitor," Malfoy shouted, losing his calm entirely, another curse flew at me.

" **Protego** ," I said lazily summoning a shield to block the curse. "Draco, stop this now, before you get in trouble."

Three curses in quick succession. " **P** **rotego**. Draco, this is just sad."

"What is going on here?" a familiar voice shouted. It was Uncle Alistair. He fought his way to the front of the crowd. "What happened here?"

"Well," I said, "Draco was bullying Ron, so I punched him, then he tried to get Crabbe and Goyle here," I pointed at the two goons, "to fight Alice and me, but they refused. Then he started throwing curses at me."

"You!" Uncle Alistair shouted pointing his wand at Draco. "You need to learn some discipline!"

I sighed, Uncle Alistair was overreacting, again. He flicked his wand, and Draco shrank into a ferret.

"Professor Moody," I tried to intervene, but he was on a warpath.

He glared at Malfoy the ferret. Malfoy squeaked and tried to run away.

"I don't think so!" Uncle Alistair shouted, pointing his wand at Draco the ferret again. The ferret flew ten feet into the air, fell with a smack to the floor, and then bounced upward once more.

"I don't like people who attack others for no reason, I don't like bullies who attack my goddaughter," Uncle Alistair growled as the ferret bounced higher and higher, squealing in pain. "Stinking, cowardly, scummy, never—do—that—again!"

"Uncle Alistair," I tried to interject, worried for Draco's safety, but Uncle Alistair was too angry to listen. I sighed, I had to do something. " **E** **xpelliarmus**."

I got it just right to disarm Uncle Alistair without injuring him. He turned to me, furious. "Why did you do that Janet? He needs punishing."

"We agree on that then, so stop torturing him, and start actually punishing him." I said angrily as I handed back his wand.

"He's a bully and he won't get better by being coddled," Uncle Alistair said grumpily.

"That does not justify turning him into a ferret and hitting him on the ground," I replied angrily.

"I was actually aiming for a weasel, but a ferret is close enough," Uncle Alistair said with a shrug.

"That does not justify hitting him on the floor, you could kill him doing that!" I shouted.

"Professor Moody!" said a shocked voice. We turned to see that Professor McGonagall was coming down the marble staircase with her arms full of books.

"Hello, Professor McGonagall," Moody said angrily.

"What, what are you doing? Why is there a ferret in here?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"Teaching," Uncle Alistair said without much concern.

"Teach- Moody, is that a student!?" Professor McGonagall shrieked, her eyes wide and her face pale.

"Yep," Uncle Alistair said proudly.

"No!" Professor McGonagall cried, running down the staircase and pulling out her wand. A moment later, with a loud snapping noise, Draco Malfoy had reappeared, lying in a heap on the floor, with his pale blonde hair all over his now brilliantly pink face. He got to his feet, wincing and looked ready to pee himself.

"Moody, we never use Transfiguration as a punishment!" Professor McGonagall said weakly, trembling angrily. "Surely Professor Dumbledore told you that?"

"He might've mentioned it, yeah," Uncle Alistair muttered without much concern, scratching his chin uncomfortably, "but I thought a good sharp shock..."

"We give detentions Moody," McGonagall shouted, "or speak to the offender's Head of House! We do not turn them into ferrets."

"I'll do that, then," Uncle Alistair said, glaring at Malfoy with hatred in his eyes.

Malfoy, whose pale eyes were still watering with pain and humiliation, looked malevolently up at Moody and muttered something in which the words "my father" were distinguishable.

"Oh yeah?" Uncle Alistair whispered quietly, his eye narrowed angrily, he limped forward a few steps, the dull clunk of his wooden leg echoing around the hall. "Well, I know your father old boy... You tell him Moody's keeping a close eye on his son… you tell him that from me… Now, your Head of House'll be Snape, will it?"

"Yes." Malfoy said in equal parts resentfully and fearfully

"Another old friend," Moody growled. "I've been looking forward to a chat with old Snape... Come on, you..." He seized Malfoy's upper arm and marched him off toward the dungeons.

McGonagall frowned anxiously after them for a few moments. She shook her head and then waved her wand at her fallen books, causing them to levitate up into the air and pile into her arms.

"I take it you stopped him," she said, concern in her eyes. She was probably as concerned about Uncle Alistair as much as I was. They had fought alongside each other in the war, she had to know something was wrong.

"Yes, I'm afraid I had to disarm him to do so, I suppose that means detention," I said, not concerned by any punishment,

"10 points to Gryffindor," McGonagall said walking away, leaving me a bit surprised at being rewarded.

"Don't talk to me," Ron said quietly to us as we sat down at the Gryffindor table a few minutes later, surrounded by excited talk on all sides about what had just happened.

"Why not?" Hermione said in surprise.

"I thought you'd want to relive the moment your greatest enemy got what was coming to him," Alice said.

"I want to fix that in my memory forever," Ron said eyes closed and an uplifted expression on his face. "Draco Malfoy, the amazing bouncing ferret..."

"What's wrong?" Alice asked as she noticed me frowning into my food.

"You know when you know someone for a really long time and then you suddenly see them act totally against what you thought you knew about them?" I asked as I looked into her beautiful rainbow eyes.

"Yes, with Luke and Drake," Alice said with concern.

"Yeah," I said poking at my food, "Uncle Alistair, sorry, Professor Moody always said that I must always follow the rules, the punishment of the law is always the right punishment, and if not, tough. We are not vigilantes. Well, today I saw him totally go against that and everything else he ever taught me about right and wrong. Yes, he's a little paranoid, yes, he's a little kooky, but I never saw any side to him that would turn a student, even a Malfoy, into a ferret and then hit him into the floor. Something's wrong and I want to find out what, but I don't want pry into his private life."

Alice puffed out her cheeks as she thought. "It could have been simply the stress of a new job. Dad's always a little off whenever he starts a new project."

"I suppose so," I said, still unconvinced as I put a forkful of food in my mouth. It tasted like cardboard.

"Just wait and see," Alice said, "he'll get back to normal. If he's not back to normal within a couple of weeks then you start prying, because that could mean something is wrong. Like I said, it might just be the stress of a new job. Besides, what could it be?"

"I don't know, but something is off, I can feel it," I said as I put down my fork, losing what little appetite I had.

"We have him on Thursday," Alice said. "You can talk to him then."


	8. Chapter 8

When our first defence lesson came around on Thursday afternoon everyone was buzzing with excitement as they took out their copies of 'The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection', and waited. Soon we heard Uncle Alistair thudding towards us down the corridor. He entered the room and surveyed everyone. I could just see his wooden foot poking out from his robes.

"You can put those away," he growled, limping over to his desk and sitting heavily, "those books." We looked around in confusion. "You won't need them."

We returned our books to our bags, Ron looking excited. Hermione looked almost scared of a lesson without books.

Uncle Alistair took out a thick book that was labelled as a register. He moved his long grey hair out of his face and began to call out names. His brown eye was moving steadily down the list of names while his magical blue eye swivelled around erratically in its socket, settling on each student as they answered. Hermione shivered when his eye fixed upon her, as did several others. Neville looked ready to wet himself when it was his turn.

"Right then," he said, when the last person had hesitantly answered, "I've had a letter from Professor Lupin about this class. Seems you've had a pretty thorough education in tackling some Dark creatures." He pulled a grubby piece of paper from his pocket. "Let's see, you've covered boggarts, Red Caps, hinkypunks, Grindylows, Kappas and Werewolves, is that right?"

There was a general murmur of assent.

"But you're behind," his eyebrow rose in surprise as he continued reading, "very behind on dealing with curses. I'm here to bring you up to scratch on what wizards can do to each other. I've got one year to teach you how to deal with Dark —"

"What, aren't you staying?" Ron blurted out, he quickly covered his own mouth when he realised that he had interrupted.

Uncle Alistair's magical eye spun around to stare at Ron. Ron shied back looking apprehensive, but after a moment Uncle Alistair smiled. It was not his usual smile. It looked like someone had moved another person's smile onto his face. It was weird to watch. The smile made his heavily scarred face look more twisted and contorted than ever, but Ron looked relieved to know that Professor Moody was human.

"You'll be Arthur Weasley's son, eh?" Uncle Alistair said dropping his smile just a bit. "Your father got me out of a very tight corner a few days ago. Yeah, I'm staying just the one year, it's just a special favour to Dumbledore, one year, and then back to my quiet retirement."

He gave a harsh laugh, and then clapped his scarred hands together. "So, straight into it. Curses, they come in many strengths and forms. Now, according to the Ministry of Magic, I'm supposed to teach you counter-curses and leave it at that, I'm not going to teach you counter-curses and leave it at that. I'm not supposed to show you what illegal Dark curses look like until you're in the sixth year."

A few people looked disappointed, but from personal experience I was not looking forward to that.

"You're supposed to be old enough to deal with it till then, but Professor Dumbledore's got a higher opinion of your nerves. He reckons you can cope, and I say the sooner you know what you're up against, the better. How are you supposed to defend yourself against something you've never seen?"

He spread his hands and looked around the room, before anyone could answer he continued, "A wizard who's about to put an illegal curse on you isn't going to tell you what he's about to do. He's not going to do it nice and polite to your face, you need to be prepared, you need to be alert and watchful. You need to put that away, Miss Brown, when I'm talking!"

Lavender jumped and blushed. She had been showing Parvati and anyone else near her a completed horoscope that she had made under the desk. Lavender had just discovered that Uncle Alistair's eye could see out the back of his head and through wood, stone, and some metals.

"So…" he said clearing his throat and trying to recapture his flow, "do any of you know which curses are most heavily punished by wizarding law?"  
Several hands rose hesitantly into the air, including Neville's, Ron's, and Hermione's. Uncle Alistair gestured at Ron, though his magical eye was still fixed on Lavender.

"Er," Ron said tentatively, "my dad told me about one… Is it called the Imperius Curse, or something?"

"Ah, yes," Moody said nodding appreciatively, "your father would know that one, gave the Ministry a lot of trouble at one time, the Imperius Curse."

Uncle Alistair pulled himself to his feet. He opened his desk drawer and took out a glass jar. Three large black spiders were scuttling around inside it. Ron visibly recoiled at the sight of them and I was reminded of his extreme arachnophobia. I smiled slightly at the memory of the story of its origin, when his brothers turned his teddy bear into a spider.

Uncle Alistair reached into the jar, caught one of the spiders, and held it in the palm of his hand so that the entire class could all see it. He then pointed his wand at it and muttered, " **Imperio**!"

The spider leapt from Uncle Alistair's hand on a thread of silk and swung through the air as though it were an acrobat on a trapeze. It suddenly froze, stretched out its legs rigidly, and did a backflip, breaking the thread and landing on the desk, where it began to cartwheel in circles. Uncle Alistair jerked his wand, and the spider rose shakily onto two of its legs and did a shaky, jerky jig. The class erupted into laughter, which made Uncle Alistair angry.

"Think it's funny, do you?" he growled. "You'd like it, would you, if I did it to you?"

The laughter died away almost instantly.

"Total control," Uncle Alistair said quietly and sadly as he watched the spider balled itself up and began to roll over and over. "I could make it jump out of the window, drown itself, or throw itself down one of your throats..."

Ron gave a large involuntarily shudder.

"Years back, there were a lot of witches and wizards being controlled by the Imperius Curse," Uncle Alistair said sadly. I knew he was talking about the days in the War when Voldemort enslaved those who refused to follow his insanity. "Some job for the Ministry, trying to sort out who was being forced to act, and who was acting of their own free will. The Imperius Curse can be fought, and I'll be teaching you how, but it takes real strength of character, and not everyone's got it. Some beings and halflings are immune to it, like powerful Demigods and Giants.

Occlumency is also useful, as it can be used to erect barriers against and some can even block it entirely. However, it is better to avoid being hit with it if you can. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" he shouted and everyone jumped. I was surprised how long it had taken him to say his favourite two words.

He picked up the somersaulting spider and threw it back into the jar. "Anyone else know one? Another illegal curse?"

Hermione's hand flew into the air again, I put mine up, and so did Neville. I was rather surprised at this, the only class in which Neville usually volunteered for anything was Herbology, which was easily his best subject. Neville looked surprised at his own daring.

"Yes?" Moody said, his magical eye rolling over to fix on Neville.

"There's one, Cruciatus Curse," Neville said in a small but well-articulated voice.

Uncle Alistair was looking very intently at Neville, this time with both eyes, which made Neville shrink into his chair. "Your name's Longbottom?" he said, his magical eye wandering off to read the register again.

Neville nodded nervously, but Uncle Alistair made no further inquiries. He did however, look very sad. Turning back to the class at large, he reached into the jar for the next spider and placed it upon the desktop, where it remained motionless, apparently too scared to move.

"The Cruciatus Curse," Moody said, he looked at the spider. "Needs to be a bit bigger for you to get the idea," he said, pointing his wand at the spider. " **Engorgio**!"

The spider started stretching and swelling. It grew until it was the size of a dinner plate. Abandoning all pretences of dignity and courage, Ron pushed his chair backwards, as far away from Uncle Alistair's desk as possible. He was not the only one; several pupils pushed backwards and looked close to fainting at the size of the spider.

Uncle Alistair raised his wand again, pointed it at the spider, and said, " **Crucio**!"

At once, the spider turned onto its back, its legs curling upwards and arcing back touch its body. The spider began to twitch horribly, rocking from side to side. No sound came from it, but I was sure that if it could make a sound it would be screaming. I had when I had been put under the Cruciatus. Uncle Alistair did not remove his wand as the spider started to shudder and jerk more violently, what appeared to be a mad glint appeared in his human eye. He was smiling slightly as if he was enjoying it, which did not make sense seeing as in the war he had been on the receiving end of this curse on at least three occasions that I knew of.

"Stop it!" Alice shouted shrilly. I looked at her. She was not looking at the spider, but at Neville, I followed her gaze and saw that Neville's hands were clenched upon the desk in front of him. His knuckles and face had gone very white, his eyes were staring at Uncle Alistair, they were bulging and horrified. He looked close to fainting.

Uncle Alistair removed his wand, the spider's legs relaxed, but it continued to twitch painfully. " **Reducio** ," he said, and the spider shrank back to its normal size. He quickly put it back into the jar. "Pain," Moody said softly, as he looked over the class. "You don't need thumbscrews or knives to torture someone if you can perform the Cruciatus Curse. That one was very popular once too. Right, anyone know any others?"

Hermione raised her hand shakily. "Yes?" Moody said, looking at her.

"Avada Kedavra," Hermione whispered. Several people looked uneasily around at her, including Ron.

"Ah," Uncle Alistair said, another slight smile twisting his mouth, "yes, the last and worst. Avada Kedavra, the Killing Curse."

He put his hand in the jar, and almost as if it knew what was coming the third spider scuttled frantically around the bottom of the jar, trying to evade Uncle Alistair's fingers. He eventually trapped it and placed it upon the desktop. It started to scuttle frantically across the wooden surface as though it knew what was to come.

Uncle Alistair raised his wand, " **Avada Kedavra**!" he roared.

An emerald green spell flew from his wand and hit the spider. Instantaneously the spider rolled over onto its back, unmarked, but definitely dead. Several of the students stifled cries. Ron had thrown himself backward and toppled off his seat as the spider skidded toward him.

Uncle Alistair casually swept the dead spider off the desk onto the floor.

"Not nice," he said calmly, "not pleasant at all. There's no counter curse, and it's very difficult to block. Usually people take shelter behind something made of stone, thick wood, or metal. Only one known person has ever survived being hit by it, and he's sitting right in front of me."

I glanced at Harry and saw him staring blankly at the dead spider. It was well known how his parents died. I could not imagine what he was feeling at that moment.

"Avada Kedavra is a curse that needs a powerful bit of magic behind it," Uncle Alistair said. "Most of you could all get your wands out now and point them and say the words and I doubt I'd get so much as a nosebleed." He smiled and either winked or blinked at me, it was always hard to tell. "One or two of you may be powerful enough to cast it, but that doesn't matter. I'm not here to teach you how to do it and I never will teach you to do it. Now, you're probably wondering if there's no counter curse then why am I showing you? Because you've got to know. You've got to appreciate what the worst is. You don't want to find yourself in a situation where you're facing it. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" he shouted, and the whole class jumped again.

"Now, those three curses Avada Kedavra, Imperius, and Cruciatus are known as the Unforgivable Curses. The use of any one of them on a fellow human being without Ministry approval is enough to earn a life sentence in Azkaban. That's what you're up against, that's what I've got to teach you to fight. You need preparing, you need arming, but most of all, you need to practice constant, never-ceasing vigilance. Get out your quills... copy this down..."

* * *

We spent the rest of the lesson taking notes on each of the Unforgivable Curses. No one spoke until Uncle Alistair had dismissed them and they had left the classroom, a tsunami of talk suddenly burst forth. Most people were discussing the curses in awed voices but I did not listen. I did not want to hear them enjoying the pain, enslavement or death of any creature, even a spider.

"Is Moody always like that?" Alice asked as the two of us wandered around the corridors. She sounded a little shaken by Uncle Alistair's display. Defence had been the last lesson of the day so we were now free to do what we wanted, especially as we had done our homework.

"Surprisingly," I said as I processed what had just happened, "pretty much. He has never really done build up to anything, he just says what he needs to and that's it. But something was not right. When he was torturing the spider he looked like he enjoyed it, he casually killed that spider, he looked almost happy with his spider puppet. He doesn't normally act like that. He's been under the Cruciatus curse, he's seen people killed with the killing curse, he's seen people murder loved ones while under the Imperious, but he seemed to revel in the curse. He tried to hide it but it was there, just under the surface."

"This is a little more private than the corridor," she said, smiling at me. "We can talk more freely here." Alice looked up and down the corridor and pushed me into one of the classrooms we were walking past. It was an abandoned classroom, the school had lots of them from when the student numbers were higher, but the numbers were low at that time due to the Wizarding War when so many magicals died or fled and had not returned. However, despite it being abandoned, it was kept clean by the House Elves.

"Janet, I'm sure there's an explanation. Maybe he was just happy with how well the lesson was going, maybe he'd had some good news." She smiled weakly. "Besides, I don't want to talk about Professor Moody."

"What do you want to talk about?" I asked.

"This." She kissed me on the lips. I kissed her back.

* * *

We lost track of the best part of an hour in that classroom, so everyone was a bit flustered when we came back to the Common Room.

"I told ya they'd be together," Ron said from where he was sitting. "Sneak into an abandoned classroom, did you?"

Ron smiled mischievously, which caused me to blush and Alice to grin and wink at me.

"Please, don't do that again," Hermione said, she was holding a bag of something, "we were all panicked about you two, we were about to go to McGonagall about you."

"She means that she was," Ron said lazily, "I knew you'd turn up eventually."

I was still blushing like a kid caught with his hand caught in a biscuit barrel, so I changed the subject. "Hermione, what's in the bag?"

Hermione's eyes lit up with excitement, which is rarely a good thing. She reached into her bag and pulled out a badge, it read S.P.E.W. "I decided to do something about the treatment of House Elves, so I formed the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare to free the House Elves."

I groaned. "You listened to nothing I said on the train, did you?"

"I listened and believe that it is based on misinformation, I cannot believe that any sentient creature would enjoy being enslaved," Hermione said raising her chin defiantly.

I groaned. "Look, Hermione, House Elves enjoy their lives, they like working hard, it's called a symbiotic relationship, you see it everywhere in nature."

"That does not mean House Elves should not be paid, they should have jobs rather than just being part of the furniture," Hermione said angrily.

"Hermione," I said slowly, "You have met one severely mistreated Elf and declared they all need to be freed. Hermione, Dobby was a black sheep. He was the only Elf I met who wants to be free. When Dad tried to free Cobblepot, Cobblepot cried for days until Dad gave him his old job back. Hermione, House Elves don't want freedom from enslavement, they chose to live this life."

"No, I don't believe it. You're just out of touch with reality," she said stubbornly.

I sighed. "Suit yourself, but don't you ever try to drag me into this maelstrom of stubbornness and insensitivity to the actual House Elves' feelings."

"Fine," Hermione said storming out the room, her head tilted back haughtily.

"Say, Ron," I said, trying to change the subject, "I just thought of something. Krum is supposedly enrolled at Durmstrang. Do you think he will be coming with the Durmstrang students?

Ron looked ready to explode with excitement, "I hadn't thought of that!" he said, his eyes wide. "Yeah, he goes to Durmstrang, he's over seventeen. He'll be coming here!"

"Do you think Senpai will notice him?" Alice asked. Everyone looked at her like she had a second head, except for one second year who was reading near us who started laughing before realising no-one else was. He stopped abruptly and returned to his book, his cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

"Err, what?" I asked.

Alice lowered her head, "it's a muggle thing," she mumbled.

"Oh," Harry, Ron and I said in sync.

"I was basically saying Ron has a crush on someone who will barely ever notice him," Alice muttered.

Ron blushed, "I do not have a crush on Krum, he's just really awesome. The way he flies through the sky, he's like an a great artist, like Picasso."

"If he gets hit with many more bludgers he's going to look like a Picasso," Alice replied with a cute smile, we laughed whilst Ron went very red.

"You know what I mean, come on, you must have someone who you think is awesome, like Hercules," Ron said hopefully.

"One," I said, "Hercules was Roman, Heracles was Greek, and two, Heracles did a lot of things, but he wasn't exactly a nice guy. I admired some of his achievements, some of the monsters he killed still haven't been defeated again, but he stole the horn off of a River God just so he could marry a woman who he then cheated on."

"Thanks for the lecture," Ron muttered, "but my point still stands, you have to have a hero."

"Yes, I do, I admire Odysseus's brains, Caesar's tactical genius and Argos' loyalty, but, I don't start gushing whenever they are mentioned like you do whenever someone mentions Krum. You're worse than Hermione was with Lockheart."

"It's just, Krum is so cool," Ron said, his voice climbing several octaves until it was just a squeal of excitement for the last word.

"Ron, you sound ridiculous," Harry said, shaking his head in exasperation, "get a hold of yourself."

"What do you mean?" Ron asked in confusion.

"We just talked about this," I said. "By the way, how's Neville? He looked a little ill after Defence."

"Moody apologised to him," Ron said, "and gave him a book about magic aquatic plants. Do you know why he acted like that?"

"Yeah, his parents were tortured under the Cruciatus curse and are now residents in Saint Mungo's mental health ward," Alice said sadly. "He mentioned it last year, poor guy."

"At least we got him to stand up to his Grandma," I said, feeling a mixture of sad and proud. Then the bell rang for dinner.


	9. Chapter 9

The rest of month went by in steadily increasing excitement for the arrival of the other schools. Ron looked as Alice described him, like a fangirl. This confused me when she first used it, because Ron did not look like a fan. He did not have fins and he was not spinning. But once again, it was apparently a muggle thing. (Insert from the translator, for any wizard who does not mix with muggles very much. A fangirl is a term used by muggles to refer to other muggles, usually girls, who are totally dedicated to a community, a 'fandom', or a person. They are often characterised as being introverted, but prone to loud screams of excitement whenever they cluster in groups of more than about five in public, or two in private. They are also known to take their obsession very seriously and are often easily angered if their obsession is insulted.)

Uncle Alistair's behaviour strayed further and further from how I knew him. Apparently acting under Dumbledore's orders he put the Imperius curse on us so we would know how it would feel. Naturally, it did not work on me thanks to my Demigod blood and Occlumency shield, which would require him to be stronger than me and to really try to break it, which he did not.

The Skrewts grew remarkably quickly considering that we had still no idea what they ate. One week before the other schools were due to arrive a sign was erected at the bottom of the stairs. It read:

"TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT

The Delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving at 6 o'clock on Friday the 30th of October. Lessons will end half an hour early. Students will return their bags and books to their dormitories and assemble in front of the castle to greet our guests before the Welcoming Feast."

"Brilliant!" Harry said as we read the sign. "It's Potions last thing on Friday! Snape won't have time to poison us all!"

"Only a week away!" Ernie Macmillan of Hufflepuff said, emerging from the crowd, his eyes gleaming with excitement like just about everyone else. "I wonder if Cedric knows? Think I'll go and tell him..."

"Cedric?" Ron said blankly as Ernie hurried off.

"Diggory, moron," I said. "You know, popular guy, Hufflepuff Seeker, we travelled to the World Cup with him, he's probably entering the Tournament."

"That idiot, Hogwarts Champion?" Ron asked indignantly as we pushed our way through the chattering crowd toward the staircase.

"He's not an idiot," Alice said. "He's apparently very intelligent, but we don't have classes with him so I don't know."

You just don't like him because he beat Gryffindor at Quidditch," Hermione said. "Like Alice said, he's a good student and he's a prefect." She spoke as though this settled the matter.

"You only like him because he's handsome," Ron said scathingly.

"Excuse me, I don't like people just because they're handsome!" Hermione said indignantly.

Ron gave a loud false cough, which sounded oddly like, "Lockhart!"

Alice laughed but stopped as soon as Hermione glared at her.

"That was an isolated incident caused by a particularly low point in my life induced by a certain biological mechanism," Hermione said.

Ron looked at her in confusion before turning to me.

"She's blaming her hormones," I said.

Ron looked even more confused. I groaned. "Go read a book about basic human biology."

"But I don't want to," Ron said.

"Don't expect us to explain everything for you then," I said, before walking off to the library.

* * *

Friday could not come fast enough, the excitement was buzzing around the school. Everyone got in the spirit, except Snape, but that is because he is made of wood. The sign in the entrance hall was all anyone spoke about. Rumours were flying from student to student like a bad cold ranging from who was going to try for Hogwarts champion, what the tournament would involve, how the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang differed from ourselves, and anything Krum as Ron passed on his excitement at meeting the famous seeker. The castle itself also seemed to be undergoing an extra-thorough cleaning, although the House Elves managed it without being seen, as per usual. It seemed by the end of the week there was not a speck of dust or dirt anywhere in the castle.

When we went down to breakfast on the morning of the thirtieth of October, we found that the Great Hall had been decorated overnight. Enormous banners for each of the four houses hung from the ceiling as well as the biggest banner bearing the Hogwarts coat of arms behind the teachers' table. Harry, Alice, Ron, Hermione, and I sat down beside Fred and George at the Gryffindor table. Once again, and most unusually, they were sitting apart from everyone else and conversing in low voices. Ron led the way over to them.

"It's a bummer, all right," George was saying gloomily to Fred, "but if he won't talk to us in person. We'll have to send him the letter after all, or we'll stuff it into his hand. He can't avoid us forever."

"Who's avoiding you?" Ron said, sitting down next to them.

"Wish you would," Fred said, looking irritated at the interruption.

"What's a bummer?" Ron asked George.

"Having a nosy git like you for a brother," George said.

"You two got any ideas on the Triwizard Tournament yet?" Harry asked. "Thought any more about trying to enter?"

The twins annoyance softened when they turned to Harry. "I asked McGonagall how the champions are chosen but she wasn't telling," George said bitterly, "she just told me to shut up and get on with transfiguring my raccoon."

"Wonder what the tasks are going to be?" Ron said thoughtfully. "You know, I bet we could do them, Harry. We've done dangerous stuff before..."

"Not in front of a panel of judges, you haven't," Fred said. "McGonagall says the champions get awarded points according to how well they've done the tasks."

"Who are the judges?" Harry asked.

"Well, the Heads of the participating schools are always on the panel," Hermione said, and everyone looked at her, rather surprised. "Because all three of them were injured during the Tournament of 1792, when a cockatrice the champions were supposed to be catching went on the rampage."

She noticed all of us looking at her and said, with her usual air of annoyance that nobody else had read all the books she had, "It's all in Hogwarts, A History. Though, of course, that book's not entirely reliable. A Revised History of Hogwarts would be a more accurate title. Or A Highly Biased and Selective History of Hogwarts, which glosses over the nastier aspects of the school."

"Hermione," I said trying to cut her off before a rant about House Elves started, "they only have a thousand pages to cover a thousand years of history. Of course things are going to get missed out."

"What's she on about?" Ron asked to Alice.

"House Elves!" Hermione said, her eyes furious. "Not once, in over a thousand pages, does 'Hogwarts, A History' mention that we are all colluding in the oppression of a hundred slaves!"

Alice shook her head and applied herself to the pieces of bacon on her plate. Our lack of enthusiasm did not curb Hermione's determination to pursue justice for house-elves. True, the other three had paid the two Sickles for a S.P.E.W badge, and she was still trying to pressure me into buying one, but they had only done it to keep her quiet. However, their Sickles had been wasted; they only made Hermione louder about the topic. She had been badgering the three of them ever since, first to wear the badges, then to persuade others to do the same, and she had also taken to rattling around the Gryffindor common room every evening, cornering people and shaking the collecting tin under their noses.

"You do realise that your sheets are changed, your fires lit, your classrooms cleaned, and your food cooked by a group of magical creatures who are unpaid and enslaved?" she kept saying fiercely. Some people, like Neville, had paid up just to stop Hermione from glowering at them. Very few were mildly interested in what she had to say, but were reluctant to take a more active role in campaigning, many regarded the whole thing as a joke.

Ron now rolled his eyes at the ceiling, and Fred became extremely interested in his eggs (both of the twins had refused to buy a S.P.E.W badge). George, however, leaned in toward Hermione. "Listen, have you ever been to the kitchens, Hermione?"

"No, of course not," Hermione said curtly, "I hardly think students are supposed to-"

"Well, we have," George said, indicating Fred, "loads of times, to nick food, and we've met them, and they're happy. They think they've got the best job in the world—"

"That's because they're uneducated and brainwashed!" Hermione began hotly, but her next few words were drowned out by the sudden whooshing from overhead, which announced our saviours, the post owls. I had managed to train Mrs O'Leary to take post to people. I had made a little rucksack for her, with a little help from Lavender, who knew rather a lot about sewing. Mrs O'Leary chose that moment to appear under the table and nudge my knee with her nose. I laughed and passed her some sausages and bacon.

"How does she do that?" Ron asked, changing the topic before Hermione could get started again.

"Who?" Alice asked.

"Janet's dog, last I saw of her, she was asleep in the Common Room, now she just appeared under the table, but I didn't see her walk in."

Mrs O'Leary wandered off, going up to students to beg for food.

"She walked in, probably under the table," Hermione said rolling her eyes at Ron. "Ron, you don't need to be suspicious of everyone and everything."

"You said the same about Lockhart," Ron muttered.

Hermione went red, looking ready to tear off his head, "Ron, I made one error in judgement, but if Janet and Alice say Mrs O'Leary is fine I'll believe them."

* * *

There was a tangible feeling of anticipation in the air that day, nobody was very attentive in lessons, they were much more interested in the arrival of the two schools. Even Potions was more tolerable than usual, mainly because it was half an hour shorter. When the bell rang early, we all hurried up to Gryffindor Tower, dropped off our bags and books as we had been instructed, pulled on our outdoor cloaks, and rushed back downstairs into the entrance hall.

The Heads of Houses were ordering their students into lines. "Weasley, straighten your hat," Professor McGonagall snapped at Ron, "Miss Patil, take that ridiculous thing out of your hair." Parvati scowled and removed a large ornamental butterfly from the end of her plait.

"Follow me, please," Professor McGonagall said, "first years in front, no pushing."

We filed down the steps and lined up in front of the castle, it was a cold, clear evening; I quickly warmed myself up with elemental magic. Dusk was already falling and a pale crescent moon was already shining over the Forbidden Forest. Harry was standing between Alice and Ron, Hermione was on Ron's other side and I was next to Alice in the fourth row from the front. I saw Dennis Creevey shivering with anticipation, or just the cold, amongst the other first years. Marc stood two rows in front of me. A light, chilly wind blew through the air and several pupils blew into their hands as they felt their fingers turning numb.

"Nearly six," Ron said, checking his watch and then staring down the drive that led to the front gates. "How d'you reckon they're coming? The train?"

"I doubt it," Hermione said, "The train is stopped for the night, the last service on a Friday is at five thirty in winter, otherwise it gets too dangerous."

How, then? Broomsticks?" Harry suggested, looking up at the starry sky.

"I don't think so," Hermione said "not from that far away..."

"And especially not in this cold weather," I said.

"A Portkey?" Ron guessed. "Or they could Apparate, maybe you're allowed to do it under seventeen wherever they come from?"

"You can't Apparate inside the Hogwarts grounds, how often do I have to tell you?" Hermione hissed impatiently.

"Who bloody c-cares how they g-get h-here?" Alice snapped, her teeth beginning to chatter. "I-I just w-wish they'd show up already s-so we can g-get inside. It's f-freezing out here." I extended my bubble of warmth to her. "Thanks Janet."

Suddenly, Dumbledore called out from the back row where he stood with the other teachers, "Aha! Unless I am very much mistaken, the delegation from Beauxbatons approaches!"

"About bloody time," someone shouted through a voice altering spell.

"Where?" many students asked eagerly. All of them looked in different directions. Some even looked straight down.

"There!" yelled a sixth year, pointing over the forest.

Something large, much larger than a broomstick, was hurtling across the deep blue sky toward the castle, growing larger all the time.

"It's a Dragon!" shrieked one of the first years, losing her head completely.

"Don't be stupid… it's a flying house!" Dennis Creevey said.

"Oh, yeah, that's definitely not stupid," Alice muttered.

"Could be worse, at least it's not Baba Yaga's house," I said to her, causing her to smile.

"We could take her," Alice said with a wink. "Ol' Baba wouldn't know what hit her."

The object in the sky glided over the treetops of the Forbidden Forest and the lights shining from the castle windows hit it. We saw it was a gigantic, baby blue, horse-drawn carriage, the size of a large house, soaring toward them, pulled through the air by a dozen golden pegasi, all the size of an elephant.

"Well, you don't see that every day," I said to Alice, rather stunned by the carriage, but she was not listening, she was too busy staring with excitement at the giant pegasi (Abraxans probably, I never checked).

The front three rows of students drew backward as the carriage hurtled even lower, coming in to land at a tremendous speed. Then, with an almighty crash that made Neville jump backward onto a fifth year's foot, the horses' hooves, each about half the size of a shield, hit the ground. A second later the carriage landed as well, bouncing on its vast wheels while the golden pegasi tossed their enormous heads and rolled large, fiery red eyes.

The door to the carriage opened and a boy in pale blue robes jumped down from the carriage, bent forward, fumbled for a moment with something on the carriage floor, and unfolded a set of golden steps. He sprang back respectfully. Then I saw a shining, high-heeled black shoe emerging from the inside of the carriage, a shoe the size of a sled, followed almost immediately by the largest woman I had ever seen in her life. She was taller than a Cyclops, or even Hagrid.

The size of the carriage, and of the horses, was immediately explained. A few people gasped. As she stepped into the light, she was revealed to have a handsome, olive-skinned face, large, black, liquid-looking eyes, and a rather beaky nose. Her hair was drawn back in a shining bun at the base of her neck. She was dressed from head to foot in black satin, and beautiful gems that looked like opals gleamed at her throat and on her thick fingers. She looked around disapprovingly. Dumbledore started to clap. The students, following his lead, broke into a nervous applause too, many of them standing on tiptoe to get a better look at the woman. Her face relaxed into a gracious smile and she walked forward toward Dumbledore, extending a glittering hand. Dumbledore, though tall himself, barely had to bend to kiss it. "My dear Madame Maxime," he said. "Welcome to Hogwarts."

"Dumbly-dorr," Madame Maxime said in a deep voice with a French accent, "I 'ope I find you well?"

"In excellent form, I thank you," Dumbledore said.

"My pupils," Madame Maxime said, waving one of her enormous hands carelessly behind her.

A couple dozen boys and girls, all by the look of them in their late teens, emerged from the carriage and were now standing behind Madame Maxime. The girls reminded me of Muggle toy Alice showed me called Barbies, they all had blonde hair and blue eyes, and the guys did not look much different. They were shivering, which was not too hard to believe, especially since their robes seemed to be made of a fine thin silk for some reason and none of them were wearing cloaks. A few, slightly more sensible ones, had wrapped scarves and shawls around their heads. I noticed they were staring up at Hogwarts with apprehensive looks on their faces, as though they expected the giant castle to eat them.

"'As Karkaroff arrived yet?" Madame Maxime asked.

"He should be here any moment," Dumbledore said. "Would you like to wait here and greet him or would you prefer to step inside and warm up?"

"Warm up, I think," Madame Maxime said. "But ze 'orses—"

"Our Care of Magical Creatures teacher will be delighted to take care of them," Dumbledore said, "the moment he has returned from dealing with a slight situation that has arisen with some of his other, er, charges."

"Skrewts," Ron muttered to us, grinning.

"My steeds require, er, forceful 'andling," Madame Maxime said, looking as though she doubted whether any Hogwarts teacher could be up for the job. "Zey are very strong..."

"I assure you that Hagrid will be well up for the job," Dumbledore said, smiling.

"Very well," Madame Maxime said, bowing slightly, "will you please inform zis 'Agrid zat ze 'orses drink only single-malt whiskey?"

"It will be attended to," Dumbledore said, also bowing.

"Come," Madame Maxime said to her students, and the Hogwarts crowd parted to allow her and her students to pass up the stone steps.

"How big do you reckon Durmstrang's horses are going to be?" Seamus Finnigan said causing a few nearby people to laugh, then a ripple of laughter followed as his comment was passed along.

"Well, if they're any bigger than this lot, even Hagrid won't be able to handle them," Alice said, looking at the Abraxans as though she wanted to run over and say hello.

"You would give it a go, wouldn't you?" I said, but I only needed to look at the determined look in her eyes to get my answer.

"That's if he hasn't been attacked by his skrewts. Wonder what's up with them?" Harry said.

"Maybe they've escaped," Ron said hopefully.

"Oh don't say that," Hermione said with a shudder. "Imagine that lot loose on the grounds..."We stood silently waiting for the arrival of the other school.

Suddenly, a loud and oddly eerie noise was drifting toward us out of the darkness: a muffled rumbling and sucking sound, as though a sword was scraping along a riverbed.

"Where's that noise coming from?" Ron said.

"The lake!" Lee Jordan yelled, pointing down at it. "Look at the lake!"

From our position at the top of the lawns overlooking the grounds, we had a clear view of what appeared to be the mast of a ship slowly emerging from the lake. The ship rose out of the water slowly, gleaming in the moonlight. It had a skeletal look about it, as though it were a resurrected wreck, more befitting Ares' army of the defeated than a school. The ship was really eerie, there were dim, misty lights shimmering at its portholes looked like ghostly eyes, the rigging was mostly missing and the sails were torn to shreds. Finally, with a great sloshing noise, the ship emerged entirely and began to glide toward the bank of the lake, not rocking with the small waves on the lake, it moved perfectly smoothly like a ghost ship.

"It's a witchcraft," Alice shouted, which garnered her a few chuckles.

A few moments later, the splash of an anchor being thrown down in the shallows and the thud of a large gangplank being lowered onto the bank could be heard. We could see their silhouettes disembarking from the ship and heading towards us. I noticed they all seemed to be built along the lines of warriors who spent their lives training, like Clarisse. But, as they drew nearer, walking up the lawns into the light streaming from the entrance hall, we saw that their bulk was really due to the fact that they were wearing cloaks of some kind of shaggy, matted fur. However, the man who was leading them up to the castle was wearing furs of a different sort, sleek and silver, like his hair. At least they got the memo about Scottish weather.

"Dumbledore!" the man boomed as he walked up the slope. "How are you, my dear fellow, how are you?"

"Blooming, thank you, Professor Karkaroff," Dumbledore replied in a cheerful booming voice of his own.

Karkaroff stepped into the light that was pouring in from the front doors of the castle and we saw that he was tall and thin like Dumbledore, but his white hair was short, and his goatee did not entirely hide his rather weak chin. When he reached Dumbledore, he shook his hands with both of his own.

"Dear old Hogwarts," he said, looking up at the castle and smiling. His teeth were rather yellow, which is rare amongst wizards, and I noticed that his smile did not extend to his eyes, which remained cold and shrewd, like Luke's after he betrayed us. I instantly did not trust him. "How good it is to be here, how good. Viktor, come along, into the warmth. You don't mind, do you, Dumbledore? Viktor has a slight head cold."

Karkaroff beckoned forward one of his students. As the boy passed, we caught a glimpse of a prominent curved nose, and thick black eyebrows set in a permanent glower. We did not need the tap on the shoulder by Ron, or the hiss in our ears, to recognize that profile from the World Cup. For someone so agile and nimble in the air he was not half awkward on the ground, bow legged and stooped as he walked into the castle. "Harry, Janet, it's him! It's Krum!" I expected Ron to faint from excitement, which to my disappointment, he did not.

"I don't believe it!" Ron gasped, in a stunned voice, as we were finally allowed back into the school behind the students from Durmstrang. "Krum, Janet, Harry! Viktor Krum!"

"We get it, Ron," I said finally letting my annoyance. Ron had been repeating the same thing for the past two minutes and I was ready to turn him into a squirrel. "But can you please keep your idol worship inside your head, because some of us really don't care."

"I can't believe Viktor Krum is here at Hogwarts!" Ron said, still in disbelief, totally ignoring me,

"For heaven's sake, Ron, he's only a Quidditch player," Hermione said.

It was as though Hermione had physically slapped him across the face. "Only a Quidditch player?" Ron gasped as if he had been personally affronted. "Hermione, he's one of the best Seekers in the world! And he's still in school! Krum is here, in Hogwarts."

"Ron, if you don't shut up I'll turn you into a squirrel and set Mrs O'Leary on you."

Ron immediately shut up and stared me in the eye, probably trying to guess if I was being serious.


	10. Chapter 10

As we entered the entrance hall with the rest of the Hogwarts students heading for the Great Hall, we saw Lee Jordan jumping up and down on the soles of his feet to get a better look at the back of Krum's head. Several sixth-year girls were frantically searching their pockets as they walked.

"Oh, I don't believe it! I haven't like got a single quill on me."

"Do you like think he'd sign my hat in lipstick?"

"Really," Hermione asked loftily as we passed the girls, now squabbling over the lipstick.

"I'm getting his autograph if I can," Ron said.

"Are you gonna ask him to sign in lipstick too?" Alice teased him.

Ron glared at Alice before asking Harry if he had a quill.

"Nope, they're upstairs in my bag," Harry said.

"What about you three?" Ron asked us.

"I think I might have some lipstick," Hermione said teasingly.

"A simple no would've sufficed," Ron grumbled sulkily.

When we sat down, Ron pushed everyone along the table

"Um, Ron, what are you doing?" I asked raising my eyebrow.

"Making room for Viktor and his friends, c'mon, before they decide to sit somewhere else!" Ron said.

"Too late," Hermione said pointing towards the Slytherin table.

The Durmstrang students began to sit at the Slytherin table. We could see Viktor was sitting near Malfoy and his gang. Malfoy turned to Ron and stick out his tongue. He wore a smug look, and I saw Ron clench his fists. I rolled my eyes, but I noticed that Krum looked rather glum, like he did not want to be sitting there.

"Look at that," Ron said bitterly. I looked where Ron was looking to see Malfoy bending forward to speak to Krum.

"Yeah, that's right, smarm up to him, Malfoy," Ron said scathingly. "I bet Krum can see right through him, though, bet he gets people fawning over him all the time. Where d'you reckon they're going to sleep? We could offer him a space in our dormitory, Harry, I wouldn't mind giving him my bed, I could kip on a camp bed."

Hermione snorted. "That is rather creepy, Ron. I expect they'll sleep on their ship."

"They look a lot happier than the Beauxbatons lot," Harry said, glancing at the Ravenclaw table. The Beauxbatons were looking around the Great Hall with a similar expression Lucius Malfoy did when he looked at Hermione. Three of them were still clutching scarves and shawls around their heads as though they expected them to be stolen. John was trying to make conversation with one guy, but was having no luck.

"It's rather cold," Hermione said, "why didn't they bring cloaks?"

"They probably thought they weren't fashionable," Alice made air quotes around fashionable.

"They look like a bunch of stuck-up Malfoy clones."

"I disagree, they're actually very attractive," Ron said, staring dreamily at one particular girl with a muffler around her head. "They don't make them like that at Hogwarts." I cleared my throat.

"Gee, thanks, Ronald," Hermione deadpanned.

"I think they make them alright here," Harry said quickly.

"I just love being talked about like furniture, don't you Hermione?" Alice replied with an eye roll.

"Yeah, it's great, nothing like going back to the 1800s," Hermione said sarcastically, catching Alice's tone. Harry blushed, but Ron carried on staring at the Beauxbatons girl. I had to admit she was rather pretty, but not enough to justify how long Ron was staring at her.

"It looks like Filch is adding chairs to the staff table," Hermione said, looking at the staff table.

"Why is he adding four chairs when there are only two extra people?" Harry asked. "Who else could be coming?"

"Probably Barty Crouch and Ludo Bagman," I said absently. Mrs O'Leary was wandering around the room and I was keeping an eye on her.

"Eh?" Ron said vaguely. He had gone back to creepily staring at Krum.

* * *

The empty chairs at the staff table slowly began to fill up. The last ones to enter the hall were Professor Dumbledore, Professor Karkaroff, and Madame Maxime. When their headmistress appeared, the pupils from Beauxbatons leapt to their feet, a few of the Hogwarts students laughed. The Beauxbatons party appeared unembarrassed, however, and did not retake their seats until Madame Maxime had sat down on Dumbledore's left-hand side. Dumbledore remained standing and a silence fell over the Great Hall.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts and, most particularly, guests," Dumbledore said, beaming around at the foreign students, who looked uncomfortable at his gaze. "I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to Hogwarts. I hope and trust that your stay here will be both comfortable and enjoyable." One of the Beauxbatons girls still clutching a muffler around her head gave what was unmistakably a derisive laugh, the same girl Ron had been staring at earlier.

"No one's making you stay!" Hermione whispered, bristling at her.

"The tournament will be officially opened at the end of the feast," Dumbledore said. "I now invite you all to eat, drink, and make yourselves at home!" He sat down, and Karkaroff leaned forward at once and engaged him in conversation. The plates in front of us filled with food as usual. The house-elves in the kitchen seemed to have pulled out all the stops; there was a greater variety of dishes in front of us than we had ever seen, including several that were definitely foreign.

"What's that?" Ron said, pointing at the large dish of some sort of shellfish stew that stood beside a large steak-and-kidney pudding.

"Bouillabaisse," Hermione said.

"Bless you," Ron said.

"It's French," Hermione said. "I had it on holiday summer before last. It's very nice."

"I'll take your word for it," Ron said, helping himself to black pudding.

Hagrid sidled into the Hall through a door behind the staff table twenty minutes after the start of the feast. He slid into his seat at the end and waved at us with a very heavily bandaged hand.

"Skrewts doing all right, Hagrid?" Harry called.

"Thrivin'," Hagrid called back happily.

"Yeah, I'll just bet they are," Ron said quietly. "Looks like they finally found a food they like, doesn't it? Hagrid's fingers."

At that moment, a voice said, "Excuse me, are you wanting ze bouillabaisse?"

It was the girl from Beauxbatons who had laughed during Dumbledore's speech. She had finally removed her muffler. She was extraordinarily pretty, a long sheet of silvery-blonde hair fell almost to her waist, she had large, deep blue eyes, and very white, even teeth. I must admit, I was rather jealous. Ron went purple, he stared up at her, opened his mouth to reply, but nothing came out except a faint gurgling noise.

"Yeah, have it," Harry said, pushing the dish toward the girl.

"You have finished with it?"

"Yeah," Ron said breathlessly, "yeah, it was excellent."

The girl picked up the dish and carried it carefully off to the Ravenclaw table. Ron was still goggling at the girl as though he had never seen one before. Harry and Hermione shared a look before starting to laugh, the sound seemed to jog Ron back to his senses.

"She's a veela!" he said hoarsely to us all.

"Of course she isn't!" Hermione said tartly. "I don't see anyone else gaping at her like an idiot!"

"A what?" Alice asked.

"Veela, we saw them at the World Cup, they were the Bulgarian mascots," I said, "very beautiful creatures, they make any susceptible individual fall in love with them, especially the weak willed. Quite a few wizards have Veela heritage, it's rumoured the Malfoys have at least three disctinct Veela marriages.

"Well then, Hermione, you should probably get your eyes checked," Alice said, motioning to the other boys who turned their heads as the blonde girl walked by them, leaving them temporarily speechless, just like Ron.

"I'm telling you, that's not a normal girl!" Ron said, looking sideways so he could keep a clear view of her.

"Demi-Veela, I reckon," I replied. "I wasn't affected."

"What do you mean?" Ron asked warily.

"I have some resistance to Veela entrancement," I replied. "A full Veela has an effect, but a demi-Veela isn't strong enough."

"Why would you-?" Ron started before blushing and cutting himself off.

Harry looked towards the Ravenclaw table to see the blonde girl sitting next to Cho Chang, he stared dreamily.

"When you've both put your eyes back in," Hermione said briskly to the boys, "you'll be able to see who's just arrived."

She was pointing up at the staff table. The two remaining empty seats had just been filled. Ludo Bagman was now sitting on Professor Karkaroff's other side while Barty Crouch was next to Madame Maxime. I looked at Mr. Crouch, who sent me a glare, I'm pretty sure he remembered me.

"What are they doing here?" Harry said in surprise.

"They organized the Triwizard Tournament, didn't they?" Hermione said. "I suppose they wanted to be here to see it start."

When the dessert arrived, we noticed a number of unfamiliar desserts too. The House Elves had gone out of their way to make the guests feel at home. Ron examined an odd sort of pale blancmange closely. He moved it carefully a few inches to his right, so that it would be clearly visible from the Ravenclaw table. The girl who looked like a Veela appeared to have eaten enough, however, and did not come over to get it, much to Ron's dismay.

* * *

Once the golden plates had been wiped clean, Dumbledore stood up again, a pleasant tension filled the Hall. Fred and George were leaning forward, staring at Dumbledore with great concentration. "The moment has come," Dumbledore said. "The Triwizard Tournament is about to start. I would like to say a few words of explanation before we bring in the casket—"

"The what?" Harry muttered, Ron shrugged, too full of food to answer.

"—just to clarify the procedure that we will be following this year. But first, let me introduce, for those who do not know them, Mr Bartemius Crouch, Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation." There was a round of polite applause. "And Mr Ludo Bagman, Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports."

There was a much louder applause for Bagman than for Crouch, perhaps because of his fame as a Quidditch player in the years past (his physique long since gone to seed and his jersey barely fit over his stomach now), or simply because he looked so much more likable. He acknowledged it with a jovial wave of his hand. Barty Crouch did not smile or wave when his name was announced, he seemed to have a stern look permanently etched on his face.

"Mr. Bagman and Mr. Crouch have worked tirelessly over the last few months on the arrangements for the Triwizard Tournament," Dumbledore continued, "and they will be joining myself, Professor Karkaroff, and Madame Maxime on the panel that will judge the champions' efforts."

At the mention of the word champions, the students suddenly started playing more attention. Perhaps Dumbledore had noticed their sudden stillness, because he smiled as he said. "The casket, then, if you please, Mr Filch."

Filch, who had been lurking unnoticed in a far corner of the Hall, now approached Dumbledore, struggling to carry a large wooden chest encrusted with jewels. It looked extremely old. A murmur of excited interest rose from the watching students; some of the first years tried standing on the benches to get a better look at what Filch was holding.

"The instructions for the tasks the champions will face this year have already been examined by Mr Crouch and Mr Bagman," Dumbledore said as Filch placed the chest carefully on the table before him, "and they have made the necessary arrangements for each challenge. There will be three tasks, spaced throughout the school year, one in each term, and they will test the champions in many different ways. Their magical prowess, their daring, their powers of deduction, and of course, their ability to cope with danger. As you know, three champions compete in the tournament, one from each of the participating schools. They will be marked on how well they perform each of the tournament tasks and the champion with the highest total after task three will win the Triwizard Cup. The champions will be chosen by an impartial selector: the Goblet of Fire."

Dumbledore took out his wand and tapped three times upon the top of the casket. The lid creaked slowly open. I half expected it to be accompanied with golden light and choral music, or something equally dramatic. Dumbledore reached inside it and pulled out a large, roughly hewn wooden cup, it would have been entirely unremarkable had it not been full to the brim with dancing blue-white flames. Dumbledore closed the casket and placed the goblet carefully on top of it, where it would be clearly visible to everyone in the Hall.

"Anybody wishing to submit themselves as champion must write their name and school clearly upon a slip of parchment and drop it into the goblet," Dumbledore said. "Aspiring champions have twenty-four hours in which to put their names forward. Tomorrow night, on All Hallow's Eve, the goblet will return the names of the three it has judged most worthy to represent their schools. The goblet will be placed in the entrance hall tonight, where it will be freely accessible to all those wishing to compete. To ensure that no underage student yields to temptation," he glared at the twins, who held his gaze with determination, "I will be drawing an Age Line around the Goblet of Fire once it has been placed in the entrance hall. Nobody under the age of seventeen will be able to cross the line. Finally, I wish to impress upon any of you wishing to compete that this tournament is not to be entered into lightly. Once a champion has been selected by the Goblet of Fire, he or she is obliged to see the tournament through the end. The placing of your name in the goblet constitutes a binding, magical contract; there can be no change of heart once you have become a champion. Please be very sure, therefore, that you are wholeheartedly prepared to play before you drop your name into the goblet. Now, I think it is time for bed. Good night to you all."

* * *

"An Age Line!" Fred said, his eyes glinting, as we made our way across the Hall to the doors into the entrance hall. "Well, that should be fooled by an Aging Potion, shouldn't it? And once your name's in that goblet, you're laughing, it can't tell whether you're seventeen or not!"

"But I don't think anyone under seventeen will stand a chance," Hermione said, "we just haven't learned enough..."

"Speak for yourself," George said shortly. "You'll try and get in, won't you, Janet, Harry?"

"No thanks," I said, "as thrilling as it sounds to put my life at risk for a stack of galleons, I quite like living and I'm not going to risk that for money. Don't you agree Harry?" I turned to him, but then I caught the look on Harry's face. "You're not actually considering it, are you?"

"Where is he?" Ron said, who wasn't listening to a word of our conversation, but looking through the crowd to see what had become of Krum. "Dumbledore didn't say where the Durmstrang people are sleeping, did he?"

"Ron, you're starting to sound like you're stalking the guy," Alice said. Ron ignored Alice, still searching for any signs of Krum. We soon spotted Karkaroff with his students, or rather ignoring his students and focusing on his star pupil.

"Back to the ship, then," he was saying, "Viktor, how are you feeling? Did you eat enough? Should I send for some mulled wine from the kitchens?" We saw Krum shake his head as he pulled his furs back on.

"Professor, I would like some wine," said one of the other Durmstrang boys hopefully.

"I wasn't offering it to you, Poliakoff," Karkaroff snapped. "I notice you have dribbled food all down the front of your robes again, disgusting boy—" Karkaroff turned and led his students toward the doors, reaching them at exactly the same moment as the four of us. Harry stopped to let them walk through first.

"Thank you," Karkaroff said carelessly, glancing at him. Then Karkaroff froze. He turned his head back to Harry and stared at him as though he could not believe his eyes. Behind their headmaster, the students from Durmstrang came to a halt to, one or two bumping into each other, Karkaroff's eyes moved slowly up Harry's face and fixed upon his scar. The Durmstrang students were staring curiously at Harry too. Harry clearly was uncomfortable with the stares.

"You know, it's rude to stare," I said, stepping between him and Harry, my voice captured the attention of Karkaroff and his students.

"Who are you?" Karkaroff sneered.

"Janet Harker," I said.

"Ah, yes. The daughter of Thom Harker and the absent mother who convinced him to leave his family and go to America with her after the Wizarding Wars, where she left him," Karkaroff said with disdain, one or two of his pupils sneered at me.

"Is there a problem here?" Uncle Alistair asked as he hobbled over. Professor Karkaroff spun around to see Uncle Alistair. Moody was leaning heavily on his walking staff, his magical eye glaring unblinkingly at Karkaroff, we watched as the colour drained from Karkaroff's face.

"You!" he called, staring at Uncle Alistair as though he was unsure he was really seeing him, a look of horror and fear on his face.

"Me," Uncle Alistair said grimly. "And unless you've got anything else to say to my god-daughter and her friends, Karkaroff, you might want to move. You're blocking the doorway."

Without another word, Professor Karkaroff quickly marched out the room, a look of contempt mixed with barely concealed fear on his face, his students following him and talking quietly amongst themselves. Uncle Alistair watched him until he was out of sight, his magical eye fixed upon his back, a look of intense dislike upon his scarred face.

Uncle Alistair then turned to us. "You lot best be heading to your common room," he said before limping away.

* * *

"Wonder what all that was all about," Ron wondered as we began walking to the Gryffindor common room.

"It seems Moody and Karkaroff know each other," Harry said rolling his eyes.

"No, I meant Karkaroff being an arse to you and Janet," Ron explained as we passed Sir Cadogan, who called out to me as he always does, I ignored him.

"Dunno, seems like he doesn't like us," Harry said with a shrug.

"That's it?" Hermione asked. "You don't want to know why?" She had a look in her eye that she always got whenever there was a mystery to be solved.

"Hermione," I cautioned, "don't get too excited. Whenever we try to solve a mystery we end up risking our lives. I don't know about you, but I don't want to risk my life this year. That's what the tournament's for."

"Janet, do ya reckon you could get passed the age line?" Ron asked suddenly.

I sighed. "Yes, I probably could, but I'm not going too, for a start I'd probably get lots of detentions, or maybe even a suspension."

"Oh," Ron said quietly, "I was hoping you could…"

"No," I cut him off immediately, "I am not letting you risk your life for some prize, no matter how large."

"Please Janet," Ron said pleadingly. "I'll take full responsibility, just please put my name in the Goblet."

"No," I replied angrily, "Ron, the age line is there for a reason, it's meant to keep underage wizards safe from their own stupidity."

"Come on, I've faced worse than anything they can throw at me," he tried again.

"Ron, you were trapped with me in the Chamber of Secrets and last year you were carried away by Sirius Black, which rendered you useless. You haven't faced anything."

We had now reached the Common Room, where we bid goodnight to each other and went to bed.

"Do you think Ron's going to do something stupid?" Alice asked as we got ready for bed.

"Yes," I said, "but in what context? The answer to that question is always yes."

Alice chuckled. "With the age line, you know to try and get his name into the goblet."

"Oh, yeah, he'll do something very stupid, like try and run through the line," I said as I sat down at the small dresser and started brushing my hair.

"Just for once, for a novelty I want this year to go off without a hitch," Alice said wistfully. "No monsters to fight, no evil wizards to defeat, no resurrected dictators, nothing."

"You know that will never happen," I said smiling into the mirror.

"I know," she sighed sadly, "well, at least not for our foreseeable future." She walked over and put her hands on my shoulders. "But maybe one day." She kissed me on the cheek. "We really should decide when we are going to go public."

"I think Christmas time, it's full of joy and goodwill, no-one can be angry at Christmas time," I said, but I did not believe my own words.

"You know that's not true, I think everyone will accept us, well, the Slytherin might be angry, but most of them hate us so much already that it doesn't matter. I suppose some of the more conservative members of the other houses might be weird about it."

"I wish we didn't have to go public, why can't it be like any other relationship," I said sadly as I set my hairbrush down on the dresser.

"I kind of like the subterfuge, it's all very romantic." Alice giggled as she hugged me and pulled me in to a deep kiss in the middle of our room. When we separated, she was giggling and I was blushing deeply, "but I would like to be able to kiss you like that in public." We went to our own beds. I kept thinking of Alice, so it was a long time before I got any sleep, as I kept thinking about how beautiful she was, how her dark hair shimmered in the sunlight, how her cute blush lit up her whole face, making her more beautiful. It took me a while to get to sleep as Alice occupied my entire mind.


	11. Chapter 11

The next morning, we woke up early (in spite of my trouble sleeping) for a Saturday and, after dallying for a bit (which might have included some cuddling), walked down for breakfast. When we reached the entrance hall, we saw a crowd of people standing around the Goblet of Fire. It had been placed in the centre of the hall on a podium. A thin golden line had been traced on the floor, forming a circle around it in every direction, it was the age line. I looked at it closely. An age line is an extremely complicated spell that I was pretty sure I could perform if I wanted to (and had reason to).

"Anyone put their name in yet?" Ron asked a third-year girl eagerly.

"All the Durmstrang lot," she replied with contempt, "but I haven't seen anyone from Hogwarts yet."

"Bet some of them put it in last night after we'd all gone to bed," Harry said."I would've if it had been me, wouldn't have wanted everyone watching. What if the goblet just bobbed you right back out again?"

Someone laughed behind Harry. Turning, he saw Fred, George, and Lee Jordan hurrying down the staircase, all three of them looking extremely excited. "

Done it," Fred said in a triumphant whisper to us, "just taken it."

"What?" Ron said.

"The Aging Potion, dung brains," Fred said, rolling his eyes.

"One drop each," George said, rubbing his hands together with glee, "we only need to be a few months older."

"We're going to split the thousand Galleons between the three of us if one of us wins," Lee said, grinning broadly.

"I don't think that's going to work, you know," Hermione said warningly. "I'm sure Dumbledore thought about this." Fred, George, and Lee ignored her.

"Ready?" Fred asked to the other two, quivering with excitement. "C'mon, then, I'll go first...

I watched, cringing at the inevitable outcome of their actions, Fred and George pulled out slips of parchment with their names on them.

"Am I the only one who thinks this will end terribly?" Alice asked with concern in her voice, watching as the twins stepped up to the golden line.

"No," Hermione said, just as concerned as Alice.

We watched as the twins stepped over the line. For a second I almost thought it had worked. Both twins yelled in triumph and fist-pumped the air… That is, until there was a loud sizzling sound and both twins were hurled out of the circle, I had to quickly jump out the way. They landed painfully on the cold stone floor where I had just been standing and the both of them began to sprout identical long white beards.

The entrance hall rang with laughter. Even Fred and George joined in once they had gotten to their feet and taken a good look at each other's beards.

"I did warn you," said a deep, jolly voice. Everyone turned to see Professor Dumbledore coming out of the Great Hall. He surveyed Fred and George, his eyes twinkling with amusement. "I suggest you both go up to Madam Pomfrey. She is already tending to Miss Fawcett, of Ravenclaw, and Mr Summers, of Hufflepuff, both of whom decided to age themselves up a little too. Though I must say, neither of their beards is anything like as fine as yours."  
Fred and George set off for the hospital accompanied by Lee, who was howling with laughter, and we also laughed as we went in to breakfast.

As we entered the Great Hall, we saw it had been decorated with its normal Halloween decorations. Carved pumpkins floated through the air and live bats fluttered around the enchanted ceiling (somehow managing not to do their business on people). Harry led the way over to Dean and Seamus, who were discussing who would be entering the tournament.

"There's a rumour going around that Warrington got up early and put his name in," Dean told Harry. "That big bloke from Slytherin who looks like a sloth," he clarified when everyone looked at him in confusion

Harry, who had played Quidditch against Warrington, shook his head in disgust. "We can't have a Slytherin champion!"

"And all the Hufflepuffs are talking about Diggory," Seamus sneered contemptuously, "but I wouldn't have thought he'd have wanted to risk his good looks."

"At least he has good looks," Hermione retorted, glaring at Seamus.

"Listen!" Alice said suddenly, people were cheering out in the entrance hall. We all swivelled around in our seats and saw Angelina Johnson, a member of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, coming into the Hall, grinning in an embarrassed sort of way.

Angelina came over to us and said, "Well, I've done it! Just put my name in!"

"You're kidding!" Ron said, looking impressed.

"Are you seventeen, then?" Harry asked.

"Obviously she is," Alice muttered, "or she'd be talking to Madame Pomfrey with the twins."

"I had my birthday last week," Angelina murmured, looking down at her hands, which were in her lap.

"Well, I'm glad someone from Gryffindor's entering," Hermione said, "and I really hope you get it, Angelina."

"I hope you get it too, Angelina. You'll set an example that not all girls are afraid of breaking a nail," Alice said.

"Thanks, Alice, Hermione," Angelina said, smiling at them.

"Yeah, better you than Pretty-Boy Diggory," Seamus said, causing several Hufflepuffs passing our table (and Hermione) to scowl at him.

"What're we going to do today, then?" Ron asked us when we finished eating breakfast and were leaving the Great Hall.

"We haven't been down to visit Hagrid yet," Harry suggested.

"Okay," Ron said, "just as long as he doesn't ask us to donate a few fingers to the skrewts."

A look of excitement suddenly dawned on Hermione's face. "I've just realized, I haven't asked Hagrid to join S.P.E.W. yet!" she said brightly. "Wait for me will you, while I nip upstairs and get the badges?"

"No, you are not doing this. I've explained this before, you don't need to liberate the House Elves if they don't want to be freed," I said, but Hermione ignored me.

"What is it with her?" Ron said, exasperated, as Hermione ran away up the marble staircase.

"If she starts rattling that collection tin under Hagrid's nose I am turning her into a magpie," I hissed through gritted teeth.

* * *

We soon reached Hagrid's hut and knocked on the door, we heard Hagrid's voice call out from inside, "Come in," and opened the door and went inside.

Hagrid was wearing his best (and very horrible) hairy brown suit, plus a checkered yellow-and-orange tie. There had been evidence that he had tried to tame his hair, using what looked to be axle grease for the magic carriages. We all shared a questioning look, but decided not to asked.  
"'Ello, I wasn' expec'in' guests, it's good to see ya. Want some beef casserole?" Hagrid asked.

We politely declined knowing Hagrid was not the best cook, and besides, the feast was not that far in the future. We sat down at the table with Hagrid, Hagrid poured us all a cup of tea, which we thanked him for and the six of us began talking. Our discussion soon trailed to, and then solely focused on, the Triwizard Tournament. Hagrid seemed especially excited for the event, he laughed heartily about the twins' misfortune.

"You wait," he said grinning, "you jus' wait. Yer goin ter see some stuff yeh've never seen before. Firs' task...ah, but I'm not supposed ter say."

"Go on, Hagrid!" we urged him, but he just shook his head, grinning.

"I don' want ter spoil it fer yeh," Hagrid said, "but it's gonna be spectacular, I'll tell yeh that. Them champions're goin' ter have their work cut out. Never though' I'd live ter see the Triwizard Tournament played again!"

A light rain started to fall by mid-afternoon. Alice and I had told Hagrid about our relationship and he had been happy for us, declaring, "If it makes ya 'appy, I don' care wha' others thin'. I ain't goin' ta judge." There was a cosy feeling sitting by the fire in Hagrid's hut. Alice and I were sharing an armchair, enjoying each other's company, while we listening to the gentle rhythmic pattern of droplets hitting the window, watching Hagrid mending his socks and arguing with Hermione about House Elves. He had flatly refused to join S.P.E.W. when she showed him the badge, saying it was up to the House Elves, especially as Hogwarts' elves were allowed to go free if they simply asked, something I was not aware about. Thankfully Hermione did not press the issue any further, meaning I did not have to turn her into a magpie.

"It'd be doin' 'em an unkindness, Hermione," he said gravely, "it's in their nature ter look after humans. That's what they like, see? Yeh'd be makin' 'em unhappy ter take away their work, an' insultin' 'em if yeh tried ter pay 'em."

"But Harry set Dobby free, and he was over the moon about it!" Hermione said. "And I heard he's asking for wages now!"

"Yeah, well, yeh get weirdos in every breed. I'm not sayin' there isn't the odd elf who'd take freedom, but yeh'll never persuade most of 'em ter do it, no, nothin' doin', Hermione."

Hermione looked very cross indeed, but she relented and stuffed her box of badges back into her cloak pocket.

When it turned five o'clock we decided to start heading towards the castle to prepare for the Halloween feast and, more importantly, the announcement of the school champions.

"I'll come with yeh," Hagrid said, "jus' give us a sec." Hagrid got up, went across to the chest of drawers, and began searching for something inside it. We didn't pay too much attention until a very strong, horrible odour reached our nostrils. Coughing, Ron said, "Hagrid, what's that?"

"Eh?" Hagrid said, turning around with a large bottle in his hand."Don' yeh like it?"

"Is that aftershave?" Hermione said in a slightly choked voice.

"Er-eau de cologne," Hagrid muttered, he was blushing furiously. "Maybe it's a bit much," he said gruffly. "I'll go take it off, hang on..."

He marched out of the cabin and we saw him washing himself vigorously in the water barrel outside the window.

"Eau de cologne?" Hermione asked in amazement.

"And what's with the hair and the suit?" Harry said in a quiet voice.

"What's going on with Hagrid?" Alice asked in confusion.

"Look!" Ron said suddenly, pointing out the window.

Hagrid had just straightened up and turned around. If he had been blushing before, it was nothing compared to what he was doing now. I could imagine steam coming from his heated cheeks. We peered through the window to see Hagrid talking to Madame Maxime with a misty-eyed expression.

"He's going up to the castle with her!" Hermione said indignantly. "I thought he was waiting for us!" Hagrid trudged up to the school with Madame Maxime, the Beauxbatons students following behind them, practically jogging to keep up with their enormous strides.

"Well at least we know why Hagrid was wearing those clothes," Alice said as we let ourselves out of his hut.

"He fancies her!" Ron said incredulously. "Well, if they end up having children, they'll be setting a world record, bet any baby of theirs would weigh about a ton."

"I did not need that image in my head," I grimaced, shaking the picture from my head.

"Ooh it's them, look!" Hermione whispered.

The Durmstrang party was walking up toward the castle from the lake. Viktor Krum was walking side by side with Karkaroff and the other Durmstrang students were straggling along behind them.

"Ron, look, it's your beloved," Alice whispered, causing us to break out into fits of giggles that we quickly smothered.

"I do not fancy Krum!" Ron shouted indignantly, leaping to his feet.

"Keep telling yourself that," I replied, he growled and crossed his arms, but did not we entered the candlelit Great Hall, it was almost full. The Goblet of Fire was now standing in front of Dumbledore's empty chair at the teachers' table. Fred and George, who no longer had white beards, seemed to have taken their disappointment fairly well.

"Hope it's Angelina," Fred said as we sat down.

"So do I!" Hermione said breathlessly. "Well, we'll soon know!"

* * *

The Halloween feast seemed to take longer than usual, everyone seemed anxious and excited to hear the names of the champions called. This was probably the one time people wanted a Hogwarts feast to end (although, Dumbledore seemed to take a bizarre glee in taking as long as possible to finish his dinner, making everyone suffer as he very slowly ate bread and butter pudding.

At long last, when the golden plates were cleared of food, Dumbledore stood to his feet. On either side of him, Professor Karkaroff and Madame Maxime looked as tense and expectant as everyone else. Ludo Bagman was beaming and winking at various students. Barty Crouch, however, looked uninterested and bored.

"Well, the goblet is almost ready to make its decision," Dumbledore said serenely. "I estimate that it requires one more minute. Now, when the champions' names are called, I would ask them please to come up to the top of the Hall, walk along the staff table, and go through into the next chamber," he gestured at the door behind the staff table, "where they will be receiving their first instructions."

He took out his wand and gave a great sweeping wave with it. At once, all the candles except those inside the pumpkins were extinguished, plunging the room into twilight. The Goblet of Fire appeared to shine more brightly than before. Everyone watched, waiting...

"Any second," Lee Jordan whispered.

"We know," Alice whispered back. "He just said that."

The flames inside the goblet turned red again, sparks flew from it and soon a tongue of flame shot into the air, a charred piece of parchment fluttered out of it. The whole room gasped. Dumbledore caught the piece of parchment and held it at arm's length, so he could read it by the light of the flames.

"The champion of Durmstrang," he read, in a strong, clear voice, "will be Viktor Krum."

"No surprises there!" Ron yelled as a storm of applause and cheering swept the Hall. Viktor Krum had his usual sour look as he rose from the Slytherin table, walked along the staff table, and disappeared through the door into the next chamber.

"Bravo, Viktor!" Karkaroff boomed, so loudly that everyone could hear him, even over all the applause. "Knew you had it in you!"

The clapping and chatting died down as the flames from the goblet turned red again. A second piece of parchment flew into the air. "The champion for Beauxbatons," Dumbledore said, "is Fleur Delacour!"

"It's her, Ron!" Harry shouted as the girl who Ron was convinced was a Veela got daintily to her feet, shook back her sheet of silvery blonde hair, and swept up between the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables.

"Oh, look, they're all disappointed," Hermione said over the noise, nodding toward the remainder of the Beauxbatons party.

"That's an understatement," I muttered as two of the girls who had not been selected started crying. When Fleur Delacour had also vanished, the goblet's fire burned red again and a third piece of parchment shot out of it.

"The Hogwarts champion," he called, "is Cedric Diggory!"

"No!" Ron said loudly, but no one except Harry, Hermione and I could hear him over the cheering and applause.

Hermione glared at Ron before shouting, "Go Cedric!"

Cedric was able to hear her over the noise it seemed, and sent her an appreciative smile as he headed off toward the chamber behind the teachers' table grinning broadly.

"Excellent!" Dumbledore called happily, as the clapping died down, "well, we now have our three champions. I am sure I can count upon all of you, including the remaining students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, to give your champions every ounce of support you can muster. By cheering your champion on, you will contribute in a very real..." Dumbledore stopped speaking as the fire in the goblet turned red for a fourth time, a look of shock on his face, his serene mask slipping.

"That's not supposed to happen, is it?" Ron said.

I shook my head. "All the champions have been called already, someone tampered with the Goblet."

A long flame shot into the air, and borne upon it was another piece of parchment. Dumbledore numbly caught it, his face locked in surprise and maybe even fear. He did not speak for a few minutes, his jaw working but no sound coming out. He seemed to be staring at the parchment not quite believing what was written on it. Dumbledore soon cleared his throat and read out in a quiet, steady voice, "Harry Potter."

'Oh bother,' I thought, 'looks like we're not having a year off after all.'

The air in the Great Hall filled with tension and silence. I looked at Harry, he sat there motionless and in shock. He turned to me, to Hermione, to Alice, and finally to Ron.

"I didn't put my name in," Harry said blankly, "you know I didn't."

The four of us stared just as blankly back as we tried to comprehend what was going on.

"Harry Potter!" Professor Dumbledore called again, "Harry! Up here, if you please!"

"Go on," Alice whispered, giving him a nudge. Harry hesitantly got to his feet and immediately almost tripped on the hem of his robes. I watched him disappear through the door behind the teachers' table.

Professor Dumbledore cleared his throat. "This concludes tonight's feast. Would all the Prefects please lead their houses to their designated common rooms. Good night!" He then quickly hurried through the door Harry had just gone through.

* * *

There was a muted murmur of excitement and surprise as we made our way back to the Common Room, as everyone tried to comprehend what had just happened. The excitement grew to its zenith as we reached the Fat Lady. When we reached the painting, everyone dispersed into their separate groups, or trudged off to bed, the library or any one of the other favourite haunts of Hogwarts pupils.

"Hey, did Harry tell you about him entering the tournament?" Fred asked us as we sat down to wait for Harry.

"I don't think Harry entered his name in the tournament," Alice said as she flopped down into an armchair. "Didn't you see how shocked he was when his name was called?"

"Nonsense, he was probably just surprised his name was chosen," George said.

"We should throw a party in his honour for being chosen as champion," Angelina suggested, butting into our conversation.

"Brilliant!" Fred exclaimed, "c'mon, George! To the kitchens!" The pair of them took off running.

"I don't think Harry would appreciate this—" Hermione was ignored as the twins and Angelina snuck out through the portrait.

"You don't think Harry put his name in the cup, do you?" Alice asked Ron and Hermione.

"No, I could tell he was just as shocked as us when Dumbledore called his name," Hermione said. "Besides, he wouldn't be that thick to enter the competition," Alice nodded in agreement.

"But there's one thing that's unnerving…" Hermione began just as the twins came back with food (in record time, it seems nothing can keep a Weasley from food) and the other Gryffindors began to set up for the party. "If Harry didn't put his name in the cup, who did and why?"

"I have a bad feeling Voldemort is somehow connected to this," I said, lacing my fingers together and staring into the distance as I tried to think if there is any way to get him out the contract.

"He always is," Alice muttered darkly as she watched the Gryffindor party take shape.

"There's no way Harry got across the age line," I said, "but Dumbledore didn't say that people had to put their own name in the Goblet, someone could have easily put his name in whilst pretending it was their own."

"What do you think?" Hermione asked the uncharacteristically quiet Ron. I looked over and noticed the blank look on Ron's face as he stared into the flames of the fireplace. I could not read his expression and I did not feel like invading his privacy to read his mind, he appeared to be having an internal debate that had not decided on emotion yet for him.

Suddenly, the portrait to the common room opened and Harry nervously walked in. The Gryffindors cheered, clapped, and whistled for their champion. Some patted him on the back and the twins (as well as many others) interrogated him on how he put his name in the cup.

"I didn't," Harry said. "I don't know how—"

But Angelina had now swooped down upon him; "If it couldn't be me, at least it's a Gryffindor—"

"You'll be able to pay back Diggory for that last Quidditch match, Harry!" Katie Bell shrieked, I really found her voice annoying, she always sounded like a Banshee when she got excited.

"We've got food, Harry, come and have some—"

"I'm not hungry, I had enough at the feast—"

Harry spotted us and made his way through the crowd to us. "Listen," Harry said when he reached us. "I didn't put my name in that goblet. Someone else must've done it."

"We know, Harry," Alice replied. "We believe you." Ron scoffed causing us to turn our attention to him.

"Speak for yourself," Ron said angrily. It appeared his internal debate had ended, and the result was not good. "You're expecting us to believe you didn't put your name in the goblet? How else could your name have been put in?"

"Literally anyone over 17 could have put it in there," I said, rolling my eyes at him.

"I didn't put my name in the cup!" Harry shouted, growing increasingly annoyed. "I'm going to bed," he growled and stomped up to the boys' dormitory.

"Ron, did you not just hear the conversation we had a few minutes ago?" I asked, rubbing my temples, feeling a little peeved that Ron did not believe in Harry.

Ron scoffed. "Or maybe Harry just isn't getting enough attention and decided to put his name in."

"What the Hades is your problem, Ron?" Alice shouted angrily standing up from the couch and staring at him in disbelief. This caught the attention of the other Gryffindors, the common room was silent as they watched Alice and Ron. I suddenly had the urge to tackle my girlfriend, or Ron, just to make them to stop making a scene.

"Harry doesn't want any of this attention and if you think he does then you're a bloody idiot!" Alice exclaimed.

Ron scowled. "I'm the idiot?"

"Glad to know you agree," Alice replied tensely.

"The only one who's the idiot is you!" Ron shouted. "You're an idiot if you actually believe his bollocks story!"

She was so angry I could feel her anger radiate from her mind. "You're being bloody stupid! Open your eyes and see what's happening here, Ron! Harry would've never entered this stupid competition because he's not thick enough to compete in a life-threatening tournament for some short lived glory! Harry has never looked for glory! He's always had things thrust at him! He's not a glory hound! You're being unreasonable!"

Ron glared at Alice before stomping up to the boys' dormitory. The other Gryffindors had watched the whole thing transpire and Alice turned to them.

"Don't you all have anything better to do?" she snapped. They stopped staring at her as she sat back down on the couch. "I can't believe Ron is so thick!" Alice said in anger.

Hermione shook her head. "I can't believe you don't see why he's upset."

Alice raised her eyebrow. "What do you mean? There's no reason for him to be upset, well, except at the person who put Harry's name in the goblet. He should be worrying for his friend's safety and trying to support him because I'm sure this competition won't be a walk in the park! Well, even walks in the park can be dangerous for us, remember the potato spirit in Idaho?"

"Yeah," I cringed, "we agreed never to mention Idaho ever again.

"Just think about it from Ron's perspective for a second," Hermione said. "Ever since first year, Harry has gotten most of the attention. When we went down the trapdoor to save the Stone who got the credit for it? Harry. When you guys went down to the Chamber of Secrets who, once again, got the credit? Harry. Who became the youngest seeker for Gryffindor in however long it was? Harry. Ron's used to being overshadowed by Harry. Harry always gets all the glory because of him being the Boy Who Lived. I think this was the last straw for him." Hermione sighed sadly.

"Still, you don't hear me, Janet or you, or anyone else complaining about it," Alice said, tipping her head back to frown at the ceiling. "He shouldn't treat Harry like this. We have done far more than he has, he was barely even there in the first year, Janet caught Pettigrew, and you solved the Basilisk. If he had a problem with it he should've talked it out with him. Besides, it's not like Harry asks for all the attention."

"I know, but Ron also has to compete with five older brothers and a little sister, he doesn't want to compete with his best friend too," Hermione said calmly.

Alice sighed, puffing out her cheeks. "I guess you're right, but I'm still pissed at him."

"Me too, but all we can do now is be there for Harry," Hermione replied.

"You're right. No matter what happens at least Harry'll have us." Alice said happily.

"It's great to know our year is off to a good start," I groaned. "Someone is trying to kill Harry, there is an escaped Azkaban prisoner running around and Ron is being entirely unreasonable. But, on the plus side, we have an actually competent new Defence teacher. Have we gone back to last year?" The other two laughed nervously.

"Let's head up to bed, it's getting late," Hermione said and we went to our separate ways to our dorms.


	12. Chapter 12

I had a dream. I really hate it when I have dreams.

I did not know where I was. All I could see was a room made of crumbling stone. In the room was no furniture except for one chair and one lit brazier. In the chair sat a portly figure who I wanted to punch in the face. It was Peter Pettigrew.

Peter had not changed much since his arrest and trial, he was still dressed in rags, still clean-shaven and still a bit chubby. He had lost a little weight during his imprisonment, but it was barely noticeable as his imprisonment had been brief. He was sitting on an uncomfortable looking wooden chair, staring at the wall. I could only see his back. I was surprised when he started talking because I thought I was the only person in the room, unless there was someone in his shadow.

"I, I, I don't think he's coming Master," Pettigrew said, his voice a terrified whimper. He cringed as he said it.

"He will you fool, he is truly loyal," a whispery voice said. I could not see the owner but I assumed it to be Voldemort. Pettigrew would not have called anyone else Master.

"What of our benefactor?" Pettigrew asked. "Does he truly support our perfect world?"

"I told you not to talk about him," Voldemort hissed angrily, Pettigrew shrank in the chair. "Amongst our foe are Demigods, and they have a tendency to travel in their dreams."

I gasped and pulled up my Occlumency shields in case he tried to find my mind. He did not.

"Disgusting creatures, impure halflings," Pettigrew said with disdain.

"Not so," Voldemort said, sounding exasperated at his underling, "they are tolerable, like Veelas, their blood is neither dirty like a creature's nor pure like yours or mine. But the purity of their blood doesn't matter, what does is its power when sacrificed right."

A figure apparated into the room, I heard the sharp crack as they appeared, but I could not see them, they were outside my field of view. "I am here my Master," the new arrival said. The voice was hidden under a voice-changing spell, as though the owner was terrified of being identified.

"Good, how goes my plan? I grow weary of waiting," Voldemort said as though he expected good news.

"It has gone off without a hitch, Harry will be competing in the tournament, and there has been a bonus. It seems Harry's alliances with the other pupils may be weaker than expected. His name being announced has already severed his friendship with the youngest Weasley boy. There were reports of Ronald arguing with both Harry and a muggleborn girl, Alice Smith."

"Excellent, the more alliances we can sever, the weaker he will become. I think it is time to turn the student body against him. Skeeter will be at the tournament, I believe a leak of personal information to her may alienate him from the student body."

"It shall be done."

There was the crack of apparition and Pettigrew and Voldemort were left alone.

"I don't trust him," Pettigrew said nervously.

"I trust him to do his job, that's what matters," Voldemort said as the dream distorted and faded.

* * *

I sat up in bed with a start, my heart and head pounding and sweat running down my face. "Hello Janet," a deep, smooth voice said. At the foot of my bed was the mahogany form of Thanatos, the God of Death.

"Don't you know it's rude to enter a girl's room without invitation?" I asked as I nervously looked at Alice.

"She won't wake, she's sleeping like the dead." He saw the worried expression on my face and smiled. "It's a figure of speech, although, in hindsight, one I shouldn't use. I called in a favour from Morpheus, she will sleep until I leave. I don't have long, but what I must tell you is important. As you may remember, I cannot collect Voldemort's soul as it is shattered and hidden beyond my sight. Currently, the sentient, pseudo-living part inhabits a House Elf's body, I believe it was called Winky. He is going to try and resurrect his body at some point this year. To do that he will need Harry Potter. More specifically, he'll need his blood. Fresh blood. No more than an hour old and not tainted by the magic of another. He will need to remove Harry from the school site and take him to where he plans to be resurrected."

"So, I need to make sure Harry stays on the school site all year?" I asked, catching Thanatos' meaning.

"I cannot issue a quest without a prophecy, so I cannot tell you what to do, but, I can give you information and let you make your own choices." He sank into the floor and was gone.

I sat there for a minute, thinking about what Thanatos said, I heard Alice stir in her sleep and mumble something about muffins. I lay down again and eventually managed to go back to sleep.

* * *

I woke up later than usual, even for a Sunday. When I got out of bed Alice was waiting. She was sitting in a chair reading a book about Tom Bombadil, the (probably) fictional wizard of the woods.

"Good morning," I said as I stretched.

"Good morning," Alice said as she closed her book and put it down on her bed. "You slept well."

I snorted, "Hardly." I told her about my dream and Thanatos' visit.

She hummed to herself and nervously chewed on a stray lock of hair. "I think we should tell someone."

"Right, I'll get dressed and we can go see Uncle Alistair," I said as I grabbed my clothes. "A little privacy please." Alice pouted, but still turned around.

"I thought you weren't trusting him," Alice said.

"No, I trust him, I'm just a little worried for him. He's acting a little odd," I checked everything was on correctly. "Right, let's go."

Uncle Alistair's office was very different than the year before when Lupin had occupied the room. Lupin had kept his office very spartan as he knew he would have to leave at any moment. Uncle Alistair had decorated his office. There were pictures of witches and wizards that I did not know on the walls, as well as one of my Dad and me on his desk. There were dozens of books about curses, counter-curses and so on littered about the room. Pressed up against one wall was a chest that was magically sealed. Most prominently, there was a giant sneakoscope in the middle of the room, for some reason best known to Uncle Alistair. The giant contraption was turned off.

"Damn thing's busted," Uncle Alistair said as he noticed me studying it. "The idiot who brought it in dropped it, now it won't stop chiming. So, what can I do for my favourite goddaughter?"

"Uncle Alistair, I need your advice," I said nervously. I then told him about my dream and Thanatos' visit, as I told him what had happened his expression darkened, and darkened, and darkened.

"You didn't happen to recognise the person who was talking to Voldemort did you?" He asked.

I shook my head, "he was out of my line of sight, and his voice was under a voice-changing spell." He frowned, but nodded.

"This is a pickle we're in," he said as drummed his fingers on the handle of his walking stick.

"We shouldn't tell anyone, we don't want to tip whoever put Harry's name in the goblet that we know anything. If they know that we know, they'll change their plan, which might be disastrous. They might attack the school head on for example, which considering the dreadful Defence teachers you've had, would result in a massive loss of life."

"We should at least tell Dumbledore," I said.

"I agree, I'll tell him after the staff meeting later, but until then, tell no-one, not even Harry," he said softly. "You never know who is overhearing your conversations, or who he will tell. Information and rumours travel like fiendfyre at Hogwarts."

"If that's what you think is best," I said with a sigh.

"Good, now remember, constant vigilance."

I nodded and got to my feet, he took a swig from his hipflask, I rolled my eyes at that.

"See you on Monday Uncle Alistair," I said before leaving the room, Alice close behind.

"Where to now? Do we tell Harry? I feel like he has a right to know," Alice said as we walked down the corridor.

"We tell him nothing, he has enough to worry about without having to think about dealing with Voldemort," I said, feeling bad about having to keep things from my friend.

"I suppose you're right," Alice, her voice worried. "What do you reckon the first task will be?"

"Something big, flashy, and dangerous, they have to make everyone believe the tournament is great to make up for the lack of Quidditch."

"So, some big monster fight, like Dragons then?" Alice asked.

I shook my head. "Even Dumbledore would think that's going too far. No, it'll be something else, a four way duel maybe, or a less dangerous monster fighting, but there is no way Dumbledore would allow Dragons onto the school grounds."

"I don't know, we had a Basilisk under our feet the whole time and he didn't care," Alice said.

"I doubt he knew about it," I said as I thought about possible first tasks. "If it is a Dragon we'll need some way to scare it off, because there is no way Harry can beat a Dragon."

"What are Dragons scared of?" Alice asked.

"Bigger Dragons," I said with a smile, making Alice laugh nervously, "and anything that can hurt them, but the problem is that not much can hurt them. Certain Dwarf made weapons are about the only things I can think of that can cut their scales."

"Well, we could just hope it's not Dragons," Alice said hopefully.

"Yeah," I said with a sight. The more I thought about it, the more likely Dragons seemed.

Alice kissed me on the cheek. "We'll think of something if it is Dragons, we always do."

I smiled at her. "Yeah, we always do."

"I know, we should tell John, he knows how to keep a secret, and he's good with plans and stuff," she said.

"Yeah, that's a great idea. We haven't really talked to him since we got back to school," I said. "So, where will John be?"

We stood still for a minute before together we said, "The library," which caused us to collapse into fits of giggles. "Jinx," we said in sync, causing another fit of we got to the library we saw that it was more crowded than normal, with a group of girls swirling around Victor Krum at the other end of the room. Sitting quietly at a table, looking a little annoyed by the noise were John, Luna and Hermione, who were doing homework. Well, John and Hermione were. Luna was reading the Quibbler upside down. I do not mean the Quibbler was upside down, Luna was upside down, with her feet over the back of the chair she was sitting on. The Quibbler would have been the right way up if she was sitting normally.

"John, can we talk to you?" I asked.

"Sure thing Janet," he said smiling at us. I glanced over at the other two. "Oh alone, sure."

We found a secluded corner of the library and I put up an anti-eavesdropping ward.

"What do you need?" he asked. I told him about the dream, Thanatos' visit and Uncle Alistair's advice. "Hmm, that's a lot to think about, I think Professor Moody is right. We have to just wait and see, and pray that we can catch whoever Voldemort has in the school before they can do any damage. If we try to grab the wrong guy Voldemort's guy will scarper and we'll have one angry guy, or gal, on our hands. I'll come find you guys if I have any more ideas about this." He walked back to the main part of the library.

"Do you think John has a thing for Luna?" Alice asked suddenly. We had almost walked back to the Common Room, hand in hand, enjoying each other's silent company.

I thought about it. "Maybe. I could see why he would, she's pretty, and funny, and quirky, and they are so much like each other."

"Sounds like I should be jealous," Alice said with a wink.

"She can't compete with you," I said, kissing her on the lips. She blushed as we cuddled closer.

The next morning when I got up, Hermione was trying to persuade Harry to come down to breakfast in the Great Hall with her and Alice. Harry was sitting in a chair, stubbornly refusing to move.

"Harry, you're going to have to face the school anyway. We have lessons today." Hermione beseeched him.

"Hermione's right," Alice said. "Harry, I know it's not the most ideal thing, but you just gotta ignore them. We know you didn't want this and that's all that should matter, screw the other houses if they're too blind to see it."

"Harry, either you come to breakfast or I'm turning you into a pine marten," I said. Mrs O'Leary barked in agreement, Hermione glared at me.

Harry sighed. "Fine, let's go."

"See, it worked," I whispered to Hermione, who glared at me again.

"I don't think it's the most ethical method you could have used," Hermione whispered back.

I shrugged, "ethics only get you so far."

The four of us walked down to the Great Hall and sat down at the Gryffindor table. The other houses were glaring at Harry, some of the students whispered things about him. Harry ignored them and scooped eggs onto his plate.

"Did you finish the assignment on Bubotuber plants Professor Sprout gave to us last week, Harry?" Hermione asked him, trying to take his mind off the staring.

"Yeah," Harry said absentmindedly.

"Alice was telling about how you sent Sirius a letter yesterday, it's a good thing you did. It would've been a matter of time before he found out if you hadn't sent it. Did you get a reply yet?" Hermione asked.

"No," Harry said, pushing his eggs around his plate.

I knew Hermione was trying to distract Harry, but it was failing to work. I looked around the Great Hall. I didn't understand why they were being so cold to Harry. I had to do something, I had to say something. I began to stand up when Hermione caught my arm, pulling me back into my seat.

"What are you doing?" Hermione hissed.

"I'm going to give them a piece of my mind, they're all acting ridiculous," I hissed.

"You don't have to do that, Janet," Harry said. "They'll start saying stuff about you next."

Alice spoke up, joining into the conversation, "Then let them." She stood up on her chair and said in a loud, clear voice, "Excuse me." No one in the hall paid her any attention. She then repeated herself in a louder voice, "Excuse me."

Once again, she was ignored. Before she could say anything, a person from the Ravenclaw table shouted in a very loud voice, "HEY!"

The entire hall went silent as they looked towards the Ravenclaw table. I saw it was John who had shouted. "I believe she is trying to say something important," John said.

Everyone looked towards Alice, waiting to hear what she had to say. She cleared her throat. "Good morning," she began, "I just have a few things that I'd like to say. As we all know a few evenings ago the champions of the Triwizard Tournament were announced. While most of them have been given proper support by the student body," she looked over at Cedric, "one of them hasn't. Before any of you say anything, I'm not doing this because this person asked me to, I'm doing this because I feel a lot of you are acting pettily towards this person. (Alice sent a glare over at Ron, who was obliviously eating his pancakes.) We all know who I'm talking about, for those of you who believe said person entered this tournament due to their own doing, you're wrong." There was muttered outrage at this, but people quickly shut up when Alice started talking again. "If you do believe this, think of it logically. Said person is not the legal age to compete in this tournament, therefore, they couldn't cross the enchantments on the cup, therefore they could not have entered themself. The enchantments do work based upon the failed attempt made by the Weasley Twins and other underage students to cross them and we know the age line was not tampered with, Dumbledore said so himself. This person didn't put their name in the Goblet of Fire and if you think otherwise there's still no reason for you to be acting so harshly toward them. Why? Because they still have to face the same tasks as the other competitors, but at a massive disadvantage. We shouldn't be treating them like an outcast. We should show them the same respect and support as the other champions because we all know all four of them will need it for preparing for the tasks. The whole purpose of this tournament isn't about the winner, or the champions, it's about our schools establishing relationships, good ones hopefully. These relationships allow us to form friendships and perhaps even alliances for the future. And if you've heard what's been happening in our world lately such as the incident at the World Cup, we'll need all these things and more. Anyway, I'm done, so have a nice day!" Alice sat down and continued to eat her breakfast like nothing happened, the chatter in the Great Hall resumed.

"You didn't have to do that, Alice," Harry said.

"I know, but I wanted to," Alice replied. "I rather like public speaking, I used to get involved in the school play at my muggle school."

"They listened," Hermione said looking around the room. "I think you've really opened their eyes, Alice, or at least shut their mouths."

"As long as they stop being arses to Harry, I'm fine with it," Alice said, pouring more syrup over her waffles.

"Looks like you didn't win everyone," I said. Ron was glaring at us, and the Slytherins were giving even more contemptuous looks than usual (which was saying something).

"I'd like to see them stand up in front of everyone," Hermione said angrily, glaring back at Ron.

"I swear you two annoy each other on purpose," I said teasingly to Hermione. She blushed in response, but did not say anything.

"The first task is on November 24th, they told us on Saturday," Harry said, "but I have no idea what it is."

"Alice and I talked it over for a bit yesterday," I said. "We think it will be big, flashy and dangerous to get everyone excited for the tournament so they stop complaining about Quidditch."

"What's going on with the student arranged matches?" Hermione asked, tearing her eyes away from a glaring match with Ron.

"Well, like any student arranged event at this school, they started off enthusiastic, but then they realised how much work was involved and gave up," I said.

"Shame," Harry sighed wistfully, "I would've loved to have seen a Quidditch match this year. We could have even played as a school against the other schools. Doubt they would have let me play though."

"Yeah, well maybe you can petition the students who are meant to be arranging it," I said.

"Doubt that would do anything." The school's main bell chimed, summoning us to lessons.

"Well, anyone looking forward to dealing with the Skrewts?" Everyone made sounds of disgust.


	13. Chapter 13

We were the first to arrive at Hagrid's hut, but it was not long until the sound of smarmy contempt filled the air. "Ah, look, boys, it's the champion," it was everyone's favourite temporary weasel, Draco Malfoy, "got your autograph books? Better yet, get a signature now, because I doubt he's going to be around much longer. Half the Triwizard champions have died, Potter, how long d'you reckon you're going to last Potter? Ten minutes into the first task's my bet." Crabbe and Goyle guffawed sycophantically in perfect harmony.

"So, longer than you stayed on your broom in last year's final Quidditch match then," I said, which caused Draco to blush as I hit a sore spot. The other Gryffindors laughed. I even caught Ron laughing, but he quickly smothered his mirth when he saw me looking, he instead sent a flat glare. Malfoy was about to say something, but had to stop there because Hagrid emerged from the back of his cabin balancing a teetering tower of crates, each containing a very large Blast-Ended Skrewt. To the class's horror, Hagrid to explain that the reason the Skrewt had been killing one another was an excess of pent-up energy and that the solution would be for each student to fix a leash on a Skrewt and take it for a short walk. The only good thing about this plan was that it distracted Malfoy completely.

"Take this thing for a walk?" he repeated in disgust, his voice rising half an octave, staring into one of the boxes. "And where exactly are we supposed to fix the leash? Around the sting, the blasting end, or the sucker?"

"Roun' the middle," Hagrid said, demonstrating by picking up a Skrewt and tying a string around its middle. "Er, yeh might wan' 'er pu' on yer Dragon-'ide gloves, jus' as an ex'ra precaution, like. 'arry, you come here an' help me with this big un..."

Within about twenty minutes the class was widely scattered, and all in great difficulty, even Alice, who finally found a non-monster that she could not tame. The Skrewts were now over three feet long, and extremely powerful. Their bodies, which were once covered in shells, were now a thick, silvery armour. They looked like a cross between giant spider and fat lobsters, but they still had no distinguished heads or eyes. Their stingers were now far more pronounced. This all meant that they had become very hard to control.

Everyone looked miserable, especially Draco, who had ended up with the biggest Skrewt. Every now and then, with an alarming bang, one of the Skrewts' ends would explode, causing it to shoot forward several yards, and more than one person was being dragged along their stomach trying desperately to get back on their feet.

"I really hate these things," I said as I pulled myself up for the third time.

When we were finally released we were battered and bruised, and the day got worse from there. Binns set us a foot long essay on the impact of the Witch Hunts, then Flitwick set another about the relative value of the various explosion charms and finally Sprout made us write up a chart of common cures for broken bones.

I noticed that as the week wore on Harry was not being scrutinised as much as people thought about Alice's speech. There were some holdouts that believed that he did it for the glory and there was the occasional insult or jeer directed at him. Harry seemed to cheer up as the week progressed and the insults became rarer and with fewer barbs. Hermione and I had begun teaching Harry some spells in preparation for the first task in our free time (Hermione having more free time than me).

* * *

Friday soon came and that meant Double Potions with Snape, the lowest possible way to end a week "Two whole hours with the Slytherins, I can only imagine how much fun we'll be having." Alice said sarcastically.

When we arrived at Snape's dungeon, we found the Slytherins waiting outside. They all had badges in the front of their robes. For a split second I thought they were S.P.E.W. badges, but that was ridiculous, they were Slytherin. Then I slowly read the glowing red letters that floated on a green background. 'Support Cedric Diggory - The True Hogwarts Champion.'

My blood boiled at the sight, and I was not surprised when Malfoy began taking credit for the badges. "Like them, Potter?" Draco asked loudly as he saw us approach. "They have this nifty little trick, look!" He pressed his badge into his chest, and the message upon it vanished, to be replaced with another, which glowed green on a red background. 'Potter Stinks.'

The Slytherins howled with laughter. Each of them had pressed their badges as well, all of the badges read the same message. Harry blushed furiously.

"Wow, what are you? Six?" Alice asked furiously. I noticed Ron standing against the wall with Dean and Seamus. At least he was not laughing, but he was not sticking up for Harry either.

"Alice, let's give them some credit," I began, causing Alice, Hermione, Harry and even Ron to look at me like I had just declared Binns the most interesting man in the world." I'm sure it took their collective brain cells all week to come up with such a witty and enlightened comment." Malfoy, Pansy and the rest of their gang stopped laughing and glared at me.

"What no comebacks?" I asked, staring them each down. "Well, maybe if I come back in a few days maybe you'll collectively have come up with something, but then again. I wouldn't want you to overtax yourselves, you might break a brain cell, and you have few enough as it is."

"I was going to offer you a badge Harker, but with that remark I won't," Malfoy sneered.

"Good, take it then and shove it up your-" I was interrupted by Draco.

"Wanna button, Granger?" Draco said like he was offering a dog a treat, holding out a badge to Hermione. "I've got loads, but don't touch me now. I've just washed my hand, you see; don't want a Mudblood sliming it up."

"How would you tell?" I asked. "You produce so much slime naturally."

"Shut up you pathetic runt," Malfoy shouted, pulling his wand on me.

Harry snapped. He pulled out his wand and pulled stepped in between Malfoy and me. "Shut up, Malfoy!"

"Harry!" Hermione said warningly.

"Go on, then, Potter," Malfoy said quietly, "Moody's not here to look after you now. Do it, if you've got the guts, unless you're going to hide behind your girlfriend again." He glared at me. It took me a moment to understand, but when I did, I flushed angrily, causing him to smirk and turn his gaze to Harry.

For a split second, they looked into each other's eyes, and then at exactly the same time, both acted.

" **Furnunculus**!" Harry yelled.

" **Densaugeo**!" screamed Malfoy.

Jets of light shot from both wands, hit each other in mid-air, and ricocheted off at angles. Harry's hit Goyle in the face and Malfoy's hit Hermione. Goyle squealed like a stuck pig and put his hands to his nose, where huge, ugly boils were springing up. Hermione, whimpering in panic, was clutching her mouth.

"Hermione!" Ron had hurried forward to see what was wrong with her. I turned and saw Ron dragging Hermione's hand away from her face. It was definitely not a pretty sight. Hermione's front teeth, already larger than average, were now growing at an alarming rate. She was looking more and more like a beaver as her teeth elongated, past her bottom lip, toward her chin—panic-stricken, she felt them and let out a terrified cry.

" **Finite incantatem** ," I cast, which slowed her teeth's growth, but did not stop them.

"And what is all this noise about?" A soft, deadly voice said, Snape had finally arrived. The Slytherins clamoured to give their explanations, Snape pointed a long finger at Malfoy and said,

"Explain."

"Potter attacked me, sir—"

"Bullshit!" Alice exclaimed the same time as Harry shouted. "We attacked each other at the same time!"

"—and he hit Goyle, look..." Snape examined Goyle, whose face now resembled something that would have been at home in a herbology textbook about fungi (well, more so than normal).

"Hospital wing, Goyle," Snape said calmly.

"Malfoy got Hermione!" Ron said, "look!"

He forced Hermione to show Snape her teeth; she was doing her best to hide them with her hands, though this was difficult, as they had grown down past her collar. Pansy and the other Slytherin girls were doubled up with silent giggles, pointing at Hermione from behind Snape's back. I resisted the urge to turn them into wombats.

Snape looked coldly at Hermione; he then smiled cruelly and said, "I see no difference."

Hermione's eyes filled with tears as she turned on her heel and ran all the way down the corridor and out of sight. It was lucky, perhaps, that Harry and Ron started shouting at him at the same time. Thankfully their voices echoing so much in the stone corridor that it was impossible for him to hear exactly what they were calling him. He got the gist, however.

"Let's see," he said, in his silkiest voice, "fifty points from Gryffindor and a detention each for Potter and Weasley tomorrow evening. And you're lucky, Miss Smith, that I decided to disregard your profanity when Malfoy retold the events of what happened. Now get inside, or it'll be a week's worth of detentions," Harry and Ron, both still fuming headed inside the classroom. Alice and I, on the other hand, shared a look and came to a silent agreement. After everyone else was inside, we turned away from the classroom and starting to head down the corridor.

"Miss Smith, Miss Harker, just where do you think you're going?" Snape said.

We turned around, "We're going to go visit our friend in the hospital wing, sir," I said defiantly

"If you two do not get into this classroom within the next thirty seconds, the pair of you will be joining Mr Potter and Mr Weasley in detention." Snape said, he looked conflicted by everything that was happening, like he was an actor with a script who did not know quite how to play the part.

"Guess we'll be seeing you in detention then."

Before we turned around Alice took one final jibe at him. "It must be hard for you to see the truth of what really happened passed an enormous nose like yours."

"Detention Smith, Harker for one week, starting this evening," Snape said gritting his teeth.

"Ok, see ya beaky, ta, ta," Alice called, waving her hand at him as we walked away.

We made our way to the hospital wing where we were sure Hermione had gone.

* * *

When we arrived at the hospital wing, we saw Hermione lying on one of the beds being tended by Madam Pomfrey. Madam Pomfrey administered a foul smelling, green coloured potion to Hermione, Hermione drank the potion, with much difficulty since her teeth were so large, she grimaced as she swallowed the liquid.

"Miss Smith, Miss Harker, shouldn't you be in class?" Madam Pomfrey questioned.

"We wanted to make sure Hermione was ok," I answered.

Madam Pomfrey studied us through narrowed eyes before answering. "Alright, you may stay."

"Thank you," Alice said and pulled up a chair next to Hermione's bed, I did the same, Madam Pomfrey left us alone.

"So, how long did she say you'd be here?" I asked.

Hermione tried to speak but could not due to her huge teeth. Alice handed her a quill, ink, and parchment. Hermione gave her an appreciative nod and wrote down. 'Tomorrow _.'_

"That's good. Do you need anything from the dorms?" Alice asked.

Hermione wrote, 'Change of clothes.'

I replied with a soft smile, "I'll go and get them now because I'm not going back to Potions, I'll be back in a jiffy."

I headed to the Gryffindor dorms and grabbed some of Hermione's clothes, and brought them to her. We stayed with Hermione, whose teeth shrank to her chin, until dinner before heading to the Great Hall.

* * *

When Alice and I entered the Great Hall, Harry walked over with a look of concern on his face."Where's Hermione?" he asked when we sat down at the Gryffindor table

"She has to stay overnight in the hospital wing, but she's going to be fine," Alice said.

"That's good," Harry replied.

"Harry, you didn't need to defend me," I said, "I can take Malfoy by myself."

Harry shrugged, "friends look out for each other," I rolled my eyes.

Suddenly, an owl flew into the Great Hall. It was Hedwig, she landed on Harry's shoulder and held out her leg. Harry untied the letter from her foot and gave her a few bits of a dinner roll before she flew away.

"It's from Sirius," Harry said, moving the letter so that they could both read it, Harry read it quickly, "he heard about my name being put in the goblet and wants to talk to me." Harry frowned in confusion. "He wants me to light a fire in the Gryffindor Common Room on the 22nd so he can talk to me. How's he going to do that?"

I shrugged. "Probably through the fire."

"He says Buckbeak's doing well."

I smiled at the thought of the proud Hippogriff who had kicked Malfoy, "a true Gryffindor that one, we should change the Gryffindor mascot to a hippogriff." The others chuckled at my remark.

"So, did anything happen in Potions after we left?" Alice asked.

"I got called out in the middle of it," Harry said, "Colin came and told Snape that I had to leave class and go have my photo taken for the Daily Prophet, they wanted a group shot of all the champions. Then Mr Ollivander tested our wands to check they were good enough for the tasks and you know, not tampered with." He shuddered, "I also had to do an interview with Rita Skeeter. She is so annoying, she kept looking for gossip and asking about you guys."

"You're kidding." Alice said in disbelief.

"Unfortunately, I'm not," Harry muttered, "I think she was hoping I was dating someone and would let it slip."

"What else did she ask you about?" I asked.

"She asked me about what my parents would think of me being in the tournament if they were alive. And then about Sirius," Harry said with a sigh.

"She's going to twist everything you said no doubt," Alice said grimly.

"Yeah," Harry replied glumly.

"Don't worry Harry, I'm sure she can't do that much damage," I said reassuringly. "Everyone knows she's just a gossiper, no-one takes her too seriously. Besides, everyone knows you, at least in passing; they will know she's lying when she starts making outrageous claims."

"Yeah, you're right," Harry said, markedly cheering up.

* * *

After dinner, Alice and I went to detention in the dungeon. Snape sneered when he saw us. "In, now," he said levelly. Inside was a member of Slytherin in the year above, who was working on a potion. Snape handed us each a pot of ink, a quill and a stack of parchment. "You will spend the next hour writing out, in English, without translation charms. I will not disrespect my teachers. Any that you misspell you will rewrite three times over." I frowned, he knew that we were both dyslexic, he was being crueller than usual.

Alice and I wrote, and wrote, and wrote until our hands cramped, then we wrote through the pain, knowing that to stop would mean more lines. All the while, the member of Slytherin worked on his potion, until he proudly declared himself finished. "Good," Snape said as he walked over and looked at the potion. "It looks perfect. You will make a fine potioneer one day Mr Skeeter." That threw me for a loop, I had no idea Rita Skeeter even had a child, let alone a son at Hogwarts. "You may go now," Snape said.

"Thank you Professor," Mr Skeeter said before leaving the room. Snape carefully put away all his equipment.

"You may stop now," Snape said after we had only been going for forty minutes, but I was not complaining. My hand felt like it was on fire. "I will see you tomorrow with Mr Potter and Mr Weasley." He took away our parchment and threw it in the fire.

"Why did Snape of all people give us leniency?" I asked as we walked back to the Common Room.

"I don't know or care," Alice said as she massaged her cramped wrist.

"Maybe he likes us?" I said hopefully. "We've worked together on things before."

"This is Snape we're talking about here," Alice said, "he may know one of our secrets, but I don't think he likes us."

* * *

The next morning Alice and I walked into the Great Hall without Harry, he had said he would meet up with us later. As we sat down at the Gryffindor table, I glanced at the other end of the table to see Ron talking to Dean and Seamus. I was still mad at him, but, in a weird way I was beginning to miss him. Sure he could be really annoying at times, as well as irrational and hot-headed, but he was still my friend. "They are never going to apologise are they?" I asked Alice.

"Who?" She asked looking up from her fried eggs.

"Ron and Harry," I said as I helped myself to pancakes.

"Nah, they're both too stubborn. It must be tearing them apart though, I mean, they were the closest of friends, well, not quite as close as like Annabeth and Percy, but still." She looked at Ron, who noticed her and glared back. "I wonder how long until Hermione is released."

As if summoned by the mention of her name, Hermione she walked into the Great Hall at that very moment with her teeth back to normal, maybe a little smaller than before.

"I think Pomfrey took it a bit far," I said jokingly.

"My parents were going to get me braces, but when this incident happened I sort of took advantage of it. Pomfrey asked me to tell her when to stop, so I let them shrink a bit further." Hermione explained.

"Very Slytherin of you, Hermione," Alice teased.

Hermione rolled her eyes and said, "Where's Harry?"

Just then, Harry came into the Great Hall, we waved at him, he spotted us and waved back and sat in front of them.

"Hey, Janet, Alice. Hi Hermione, your teeth are back to normal," Harry said.

"Excellent detective work captain obvious," Alice muttered with an eye roll. I elbowed her in the side, making her squirm. She frowned at me, I stuck my tongue out at her.

"Yes, I know. So, did I miss anything at dinner last night?" Hermione asked, trying to ignore what we were doing across the table from her.

"Well..." Harry explained how he was taken out of Potions for an interview with Rita Skeeter.

"Well, that sounds just great, she's going to turn everyone against you," Hermione said grumpily.

"It'll be fine," I said. "In other news, Alice and I have to go to detention with Snape every evening for a week."

"What? Why?" Hermione asked.

"We were trying to go to the hospital wing to see if you were ok and he said if we left we would be joining Harry and Ron in detention. So, we left and also Alice may have said something about his massive nose and he gave us a week of detentions," I explained.

Hermione sighed."Really, you Alice?"

"What? It's the truth!" Alice said defensively.

"I expected better of you than to insult a teacher," Hermione said. "Speaking of expecting better, have you and Ron made up yet?" She asked Harry.

"Not like he's been wanting to talk to us," Harry muttered angrily.

Hermione sighed again. "You two need to make up."

"No thanks," Harry said angrily, "I'd prefer to be friends with people who believe me, besides I didn't start this. He did."

"Oh, honestly! It's obvious that you miss him," Hermione said impatiently, "and I know he misses you."

"Miss him?" Harry scoffed, "I don't miss him..."

Hermione sighed dejectedly. "Fine, you don't miss him! But one day you two will have to talk to one another."

"And today isn't the day," Harry said stubbornly.

"I got a letter this morning from Sirius," Harry said, changing the topic. "He sent me a list of jinxes and spells that could be useful in the first task. We could go out by the Black Lake after breakfast and practice them."

"Sure," Alice grinned happily at the thought of going outside.

"Yes, that's a good idea, the first task is three weeks away. But first we should stop by the library, there's a few books I saw in there the other day that I think would help with preparing for the tournament." Hermione replied.

"Alright, but I left the letter up in the boys' dormitory so I'll meet you both at the Black Lake," Harry said.


	14. Chapter 14

After we finished breakfast, Hermione and I headed to the library while Harry went up to Gryffindor tower and Alice went down to the Black Lake to play with Mrs O'Leary. When we reached the library, we searched for the books Hermione talked about. As Hermione led us down the aisles of books, I noticed Viktor Krum sitting at a table nearby with a bunch of girls gushing over him, he looked very glum. He perked up though when he saw Hermione and me. I tapped Hermione's shoulder and pointed over towards Krum, a smirk on my face.

Hermione rolled her eyes and groaned. "Oh yes, he's been here practically every single day." She purposefully turned her back to him, he started to look glum again. "It's quite annoying when I'm trying to study and all I hear are his fangirls squealing about how good he looks in his uniform. Honestly, I don't see what all the fuss is about! They only like him because he's famous! I bet they wouldn't even look at him twice if he couldn't do that Wonky-Faint thing..."

"Wronski Feint," I corrected her. I smiled as I imagined Ron's reaction of Hermione talking about Wonky-Faints, he would probably wonky faint.

"Whatever," Hermione replied, pulling a book from one of the shelves. "The whole purpose of a library is to read, not squeal over hot boys. He doesn't even read when he's here, I don't even know why he bothers coming here so much."

I glanced at Krum and noticed that he kept glancing over at Hermione. He still looked glum. I smiled slyly. "Hey, Hermione, I think I know why he's been coming here."

"Why?" Hermione inquired.

"Well, judging by how he keeps looking at you, I think you're the reason," I replied.

Hermione blushed lightly. "You're just making it up. Since when did you start noticing these things? It took you years to notice Alice's feelings."

"If you don't believe me, then look at him right now," I said.

Hermione sighed in defeat and looked over at Krum to see him looking at her. Their eyes met for a few moments and Krum sent her a genuine smile, the first I had seen him give since he got to Hogwarts. Hermione sent a small smile to him in return before looking away with pink cheeks.

"You were saying?" I said.

"Shut up," Hermione muttered in response.

"You should talk to him," I urged.

Hermione glared at me. "We are supposed to be helping Harry, not talking about Krum, or my love life."

"We weren't taking about your love life," I replied with a grin.

"Shut up," she growled, glaring at me. I chuckled and her glare intensified.

I held up my hands in defeat. "Okay then, let's get the books and go."

* * *

When we finally reached the lake Harry, Alice and Mrs O'Leary were already waiting. "What took you two so long?" Harry asked when we got near.

"Hermione has an admirer in the library," I said, barely holding in a giggle.

Harry furrowed his eyebrows in confusion while Hermione's face turned pink. She sent him a look that stopped him pressing it further.

"Erm, let's have a look at the letter Sirius sent you, shall we?" Hermione said, taking the letter from him to turn the attention away from her pink cheeks.

Hermione read over the letter. "Hmmm, Anteoculatia, not sure how helpful that one will be, Ascendio could be useful, Protego is handy when you need a shield, Aguamenti is a difficult sixth year spell. Some of these are extremely difficult."

"I also found a couple of old school books in my trunk that could help," Harry said, handing Hermione several books.

"Maybe we should start with the ones that would be useful for the task that we've already learned the past four years, just as, you know, a consolidation of what you already know, then we could try the harder ones," Alice suggested.

"Good idea," Harry agreed.

"Alright," Hermione began handing the stack of books to me, "I'll help Harry when he uses defence spells."

"What am I supposed to do?" I questioned.

"You could read off the spells. Start with The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1," Hermione instructed, "Harry stand several feet in front of me. What's the first spell, Janet?"

"Wingardium Leviosa, brings back memories, doesn't it?" I said with a smirk. Hermione rolled her eyes, likely recalling first year when she corrected Ron's pronunciation of the spell and ended up being harassed by a troll in the girls' bathroom.

"Alright, Harry, we'll need something for you to levitate," Hermione said. "Janet hand me one of those books." I handed her one of the books I was not using yet. Hermione set the book flat on the ground.

"Ok, go ahead, Harry," Hermione told him.

Harry made a swish and flick motion with his wrist and said, " **Wingardium Leviosa**." The book floated three feet above the ground. Harry then said the counter charm causing the book to float back down to the ground.

"Great job, next one, Janet," Hermione said.

"One done, seven hundred more to go," I muttered, before reading off the next spell.

"So who is Hermione's admirer?" Alice asked playfully as we watched Harry practice accuracy with stupefy.

"Viktor Krum," I whispered back.

Alice looked at me like I was insane. "As in the Durmstrang Champion? The guy who is the youngest ever international seeker? The one Ron has a total man-crush on?"

"I doubt the man-crush would last that long if he started dating Hermione," I replied, causing us to both giggle.

"What are you two giggling like a pair of school girls about?" Hermione asked, planting her hands on her hips.

"In case you didn't notice, we are a pair of school girls," Alice replied with another giggle.

"We're just chatting," I replied defensively. "In case you didn't notice, my job involves reading out a spell once every few minutes."

Hermione harrumphed and folded her arms, "what's the next spell?"

"Incendio," I replied.

"Ok, we'll need some wood then," Hermione said, looking around for some branches.

"Go ask Krum," Alice said, just loud enough for Hermione to hear. Hermione and I blushed a very deep red. Alice burst out laughing, Harry looked confused.

"You told her," Hermione accused, waggling her finger at me.

"Of course I did, she's my girlfriend," I said as Alice kissed me on the cheek to emphasis my point.

Hermione narrowed her eyes at me. "No-one else," she hissed.

"Of course, scouts honour," I said, doing an incorrect scout salute.

"You weren't in the scouts," Hermione replied.

"Well, ok then," I said, "I won't tell anyone else, except maybe John."

"No!" She shouted, "no-one else."

"Guys, we're trying to practice spells so I don't die," Harry called.

"We will discuss this later," Hermione hissed.

"Ok, you needed wood, there's a log over there," I pointed down the lake shore where a pretty large log was sitting, "see if you can hit it."

"Ok," Harry breathed in and pointed his wand, "I **ncendio** ," the log burst into flames and started crackling, I created a wave of water to snuff it out.

"Now work out how to light it, the tasks are likely to be problem solving, not just casting long lists of spells."

" **Exaresco** , **I** **ncendio**." The first spell dried the log whilst the second set it on fire, causing the aged log to fall apart.

I snuffed the flames again. "Bravo Harry, the next spell is Repulso."

Three hours after starting, we went up to lunch. After lunch we return to the lake. We spent the whole weekend practising spells that Hermione deemed useful, along with a few I taught Harry (several of which Hermione disapproved of).

* * *

Harry's nerves about the first task seemed to grow as it drew nearer, though some of the nerves dissipated during his preparations for the task. However, things changed the next week. It was Monday morning when Rita Skeeter's article about the Triwizard Tournament was released. The daily owl post had been delivered and a copy of the Daily Prophet found its way into the hands of each student.

"Can't wait to see what lies Skeeter came up with this time," I grumbled.

Hermione began reading it aloud to Alice, Harry and me. "Harry Potter aged 15, one of the top students in his year, is a suspect entrant in the Tri-Wizard Tournament. His eyes swimming with the ghosts of his past as he told me what his parents would think if they were still alive.

I suppose I get my strength from my parents. Harry says. I know they'd be very proud of me if they could see me now. Yes, sometimes at night I still cry about them, I'm not ashamed to admit it. I know nothing will hurt me during the tournament, because they're watching over me.'"

"I never said that!" Harry exclaimed.

Hermione stopped reading aloud. She looked at the newspaper in shock.

"What did she say about me now?" Harry asked.

"It's not just about you, Harry," Hermione said.

"Who else is she talking about?" Alice asked.

"You and me and Janet and John," Hermione said.

"What?" I asked. "What is she saying?"

"Harry has at last found love at Hogwarts," Hermione read on shakily, her knuckles white where she held onto the newspaper. "His close friend, Colin Creevey, says that Harry is rarely seen out of the company of Janet Harker, an uncommonly beautiful and very powerful pureblood witch who lives in America. She is the daughter of the decorated Auror Thom Harker and goddaughter to the infamously paranoid retired Master-Auror Alistair Mad-Eye Moody, who has, for some reason, been deemed mentally fit enough to teach at Hogwarts this year. She is extremely aggressive and has several times been known to threaten her fellow classmates with either spells or bodily harm. She is also very close to another wizard, one John Hex, of the infamous Hex family. My sources are sure that the two of them are dating and that it is putting a strain on her relationship with Harry. Rumours speculate that Miss Harker has slept with both Mr Potter and Mr Hex."

"She's implying I'm a violent harlot," I exclaimed furiously, jumping to my feet. "I'm going to kill Colin," Alice sat me back down. I blushed upon realising I was defeating my own point.

"It gets worse," Hermione said angrily,."Alice, you're next." She cleared her throat, "Harry is also seen to be very close to Alice Smith, a rather pretty muggleborn who also lives in America with a rare condition that makes her eyes appear to be a rainbow of colours. My sources say that they have seen Miss Smith and Mr Potter kissing several times."

I reached out and squeezed Alice's hand, she looked at me, "I, I don't understand how she could say something like that about you and me, and get away with it."

"It's okay," I said suppressing, for now, my hatred of Rita Skeeter. "Someone'll get her eventually."

"Oh great, I'm next," Hermione said angrily. "Harry has also been seen with one Hermione Granger, a stunningly pretty Muggleborn who, like Harry, is one of the top students in the school…" Hermione trailed off, her eyes filled with tears. "I can't read any more of this. She goes on to repeat claims about the two of you. Then she went on to make some more about me, then John, she even dragged Sirius into this."

Harry growled. "He's gone through enough."

Uncle Alistair limped over, his face a maelstrom of fury and hatred. "I see you got the news, or as I should call it, character assassination. I'm going to have words with Dumbledore about removing this Skeeter woman from the grounds. No-one makes such ludicrous claims about my goddaughter and gets away with it."

"She lied, outright," I said. "She fabricated an interview."

"I noticed. I'm going to send an owl to Sirius, see if we can get her for libel. I doubt it though, she calls everything rumour and speculation. She can say whatever she likes thanks to those two words, with our terrible libel laws, and she can use that Colin kid as a source to shield herself. We might get her for fabricating an interview though, seeing as I doubt you said that. The damage is done though. I thought I should mention Harry, seeing as Sirius probably didn't, she hates your father. She had feeling for him before he married your mum. He turned her down several times when she asked him to date her. Good thing too, considering how she turned out. I'm going to see what I can do, but I wouldn't hold your breath." He stumped out the hall, growling about hot tar and goose feathers, turning a few stunned heads from the crowd who were lapping up Skeeter's words.

"Well, that explains a lot," I said angrily.

"It's no use," Hermione said. "People have tried to get her before, but she's a slippery one. She can always produce a source."

"Yeah, but she's never made Uncle Alistair angry before," I said.

"She once got away with implying Lucius Malfoy was gay, I doubt even Moody can do anything about her," Hermione said sadly.

Mrs O'Leary must have noticed how angry and upset I was. She trotted over and put her head on my lap, looking mournfully up at me. I laughed, scratched her behind the ears and gave her some ham.

* * *

The next weeks were some of the worst weeks for us. We served Snape's detention with Ron. Ron had still yet to speak to either any of us. He had not even tried to talk to us about Rita Skeeter's article, it was as though Ron thought us to be invisible. But Ron not talking was the least of our worries. We were taunted by other people, Slytherins mainly, quoting the article at us as we passed and making sneering comments. Harry got the worst of it.

"Since when have you been one of the top students of your class, Potter? Or is this a school you and Longbottom have set up together?"

"Hey, Potter! What'd you have to do to get Janet in your bed? Did you make her feel sorry for you about your dead parents?"

"Want a hanky, Potter, in case you start crying in Transfiguration?"

Hermione, Alice and I were not exempted from taunts from our peers. Though Hermione and Alice seemed to keep a straight face, I only got angrier as the worst of the sneers were directed towards me. I'm pretty sure the others were surprised that I had not hexed the taunters yet, or turned them into groundhogs.

"Stunningly pretty? Her?" Pansy Parkinson had shrieked when she spotted Hermione. "Ha! I've seen dirt pretty than her!"

Hermione held her head high and said in a dignified voice to us, "Just ignore it."

But I had finally had enough. "You sure you weren't just looking at your own reflection, Parkinson?" I retorted.

Pansy sneered, "Don't talk to me, slut."

"I've been called worse by better," I scoffed.

"At least I'm not a whore," Pansy said. Mrs O'Leary growled at her.

"You're repeating yourself. Is that really the best you can do Parkinson?" I remarked. "Talk to me when you come up with better insults, or better yet, don't talk me at all. I'm unsure if your stupidity is contagious." I walked away, the others following.

"Come back when I'm talking to you, tart," she shouted angrily. She ran after me and tried to hex me. Mrs O'Leary barked, and I instinctively dodged and punched her squarely on the nose, knocking her down, her nose streaming blood.

"And stay down," I said, Mrs O'Leary growled in agreement, I turned and walked away, Mrs O'Leary trotting after me.

"Go cry back to your crazy godfather," she called after me. I took out my wand and wordlessly turned her into a hamster, I heard her surprised squeaks as I walked away.

Later, as I expected, I was summoned to Dumbledore's office. When I arrived, sitting on his desk was a hamster with a wonky nose, which I assumed was Pansy.

"Miss Harker, would you care to tell me why you turned another student into a hamster?" Dumbledore asked, his voice light with amusement.

"She tried to hex me," I said, "so I punched her back and turned her into a hamster so she wouldn't try again."

Dumbledore hummed to himself, "hmm, so you're telling me that Pansy Parkinson, a student with a near perfect record tried to hex you?"

"Yes Professor, I was acting in self-defence," I replied looking into his twinkling blue eyes.

"I must say that this is an impressive human transfiguration, even Professor McGonagall was unable to undo what you did to Miss Parkinson."

"Thank you Professor," I said, confused as to why I was being praised for attacking another student.

"You are under a lot of stress at the moment, especially with those vicious rumours about you swirling thanks to Miss Skeeter. I am willing to overlook this slip in behaviour, if you can turn Miss Parkinson back to normal."

I took out my wand and turned Pansy back to normal. She looked at herself in surprise before running out the room, her face contorted in terror. "There, as normal as Pansy ever gets."

"Indeed, and you did it wordlessly," Dumbledore said, his eyebrows somewhere near his hairline. "I have never met someone else who could do human transfigurations that easily. Very impressive, Miss Harker."

"Thank you Professor," I said, nodding at him.

"I understand that you are still doing nearly every subject that we teach. I believe it would be in your best interests to sit both the OWL and NEWT in transfiguration at the end of the year. With human transfiguration of this level you are far more than capable. It would ease your workload later on, and you have demonstrated yourself to be more than capable as a witch."

"That would be three years early, sir. Besides, I was planning on taking the American equivalent of the NEWT, the Wizarding Aptitude Testing Educational Rigour. I can do those in Greek, something I can't do with the NEWTs. I'm already doing the Exams For Indicating Right Education, instead of OWLs."

"Very well, I will contact the American ministry and ask them about you sitting the WATER at the end of the year. If you do not achieve the grades you desire I'm sure that you can retake them next year."

"Very well Professor," I said, not wanting to be disrespectful. Besides, Dumbledore knew best, he had been teaching for almost a century.

"Are there any others you wish to take early?"

I thought for a moment. "Astronomy, Muggle Studies and Ancient Runes, Greek and Latin."

"If you believe yourself capable, I will make the necessary arrangements. For now, you should return to your friends," Dumbledore said.

"Thank you Professor," I said as I left the room.

"You're taking exams early?" Alice asked when I explained to her what had happened.

"Yeah, it would mean I wouldn't have to drop Astronomy next year. I mean, we look at the stars so much at Camp. With Chiron's stories, and how important they were to the Greeks, most Demigods know more about the stars than the wizards do. I should have really taken Transfigurations earlier. I mean, I turned Connor, or was it Travis, whatever, one of the Stolls, into a dog remember?""

Alice chuckled at the memory.

"And there is no point not taking Greek and Latin early, seeing as I'm already fluent in both."

"But it seems like so much work," Alice said.

"I think it will save me work in the long run, or at least reduce my workload in the future." It did seem like a good idea, as long as I could pass the tests.


	15. Chapter 15

The next morning I was informed via a note that was left on my nightstand (probably via House Elf) that I was not to turn up to Transfiguration, Astronomy or Muggle Studies, instead I was to use that time for private study in the library.

So, I found myself almost alone in the library one sunny November morning. There were a few sixth and seventh years dotted about studying, chatting quietly or playing card games. I noticed Krum brooding in the corner, trying to ignore the girls that swarmed around him, squealing as loudly as they were allowed by the librarians and their peers. I was about to leave the library when Krum left his corner and walked over to me.

"Hello. Where is your friend with the curly hair?" he asked in his heavily accented voice.

"Hermione?" I asked.

He nodded. "Yes, her," he said, sounding rather wistful.

"She's in lessons," I said. Krum frowned, but nodded before turning to walk away. "Krum?" He turned around to face me. "Do you have feelings for her?"

He tilted his head and frowned in confusion, "feelings? I am not, er, familiar with this word."

"Attraction, like, have crush, any of these words helping?" I asked.

"Oh, you mean, do I view her romantically?" he asked, nodding in sudden realisation.

"How do you know that word, but not feelings?"

Krum shrugged, "I was never taught that word, I, how do you say? Picked it up?"

I nodded

"Your friend 'ermione, does she have a, erm, a date, a suitor? Is that the right word?"

"Boyfriend?" I guessed, "and no, she doesn't."

Krum's face lit up for a second before returning to scowling. "See you around," he said brushing past me, his fans glaring at me as they walked passed.

* * *

"Hermione, Krum definitely has a thing for you," I said to her when she joined me in the library after lessons had finished.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, looking into the corner of the room. I followed her gaze to see Krum once again brooding in his corner.

"He was asking about you earlier," I said, which brought some colour to her cheeks as she looked down in embarrassment.

"Maybe he's just being friendly," she muttered, her cheeks redder than Ron's hair.

"Go talk to him," I said, smiling at my friend.

"I don't think that would be a good idea with them around," Hermione said, pointing at the swarm of girls who were constantly buzzing around him.

"Well, don't leave it too long, he might leave before you work up the nerve to talk to him."

"I'll talk to him, just, without the horde around him," Hermione muttered as she took out her transfigurations book. "How goes studying for the WATER?"

"Fine. I know most of it already, and quite a lot of it I could have guessed from other things I know. It's about 70% practical, so that's good. At some point, a bright spark at American Ministry realised that it did not really matter if you could name all the founding wizards of the school of transfiguration, the thing that really matters is if you can cast the spell properly."

"Sounds like you have it handled," Hermione said before frowning, "but that doesn't mean you should not be studying every waking moment you can."

"Miss Harker?" I turned to see a House Elf in a button up blue jacket, black trousers and red cap.

"Yes?" I asked as I saw Hermione turn red at the sight of the House Elf.

"I have a letter for you," he said handing me a letter "good day." He vanished in that way only House Elves can.

"So House Elves are even forced to play dress up and deliver letters," Hermione said sneeringly.

I blinked in surprise. "He's an American postal elf, of course he's in uniform, they deliver only the most important letters."

"But he's enslaved," Hermione whinged.

I sighed. "Hermione, like Hogwarts, the American Ministry allows its Elves freedom if they ask for it, besides, the American Ministry hires any Elves that are freed, hence why he has a uniform," I opened up the letter and read it through.

* * *

 _To Miss Janet Harker,_

 _The Ministry of Magic of the United States of America has received and accepted your request to sit the following exams at the end of this academic year with the special language requirement that they be in Ancient Greek:_

 _WATER level Transfigurations_

 _WATER level Ancient_ _Runes-Greek_

 _WATER level Ancient Runes-Latin (please note that this exam is in Latin and cannot be changed)_

 _WATER level Astronomy_

 _WATER level Muggle Studies_

 _As you do not have the prerequisite qualifications to sit these exams you would not normally be able to sit the exams. Based on your school's recommendation and that of Lady H, you will be allowed to sit them, but you will also have to sit the FIRE level exams before you sit the WATER level exams._ _T_ _his has been scheduled for you and as such you will not need to fill out additional paperwork._

 _You are to attend the exams for external students, which will be starting at the Salem Institute on July the 25_ _th_ _._ _Y_ _ou will receive your timetable on this date, the exams will continue in the three weeks following. We are aware this date is within the Hogwarts school holidays. We recommend that you spend the preceding weeks in the States before sitting the exams to get over any trouble adjusting to the time difference._

 _Yours faithfully,_

 _Mr A. Barrow_

 _Personal Assistant to Head of Examinations at the US Department of Magic Dr N. Tope._

* * *

"So, what's it say?" Hermione asked quietly as I set the letter down.

"I will be sitting the FIRE and WATER exams for Transfigurations, Ancient Greek, Latin, Muggle Studies and Astronomy in Greek sometime after 25th of August."

"That's in the middle of the holidays, you'll have plenty of time to revise," Hermione said.

"Not in America. That's rather late for them actually, I think their term ends sometime in late May for FIRE and WATER students and then they have the exams in the middle of the holidays to give them plenty of study leave to practice in. Besides, I'm an external student, we have a different exam date to the other students."

"Oh, I suppose that makes sense," Hermione said. "Wait, why do external students need different exam dates?"

"Mostly due to a lack of space, Salem Academy might be huge, but it only has so many rooms capable of sitting candidates for exams, because of all the wards that are needed. External candidates get a different paper as well, to prevent people passing the questions around."

Hermione nodded.

* * *

The next day at breakfast Hagrid took Harry aside so that he could speak to him. "What was that about?" I asked as we walked down to the lake to practice spells that could help Harry, as we decided we would do every Saturday.

"Hagrid wants to meet me at his cabin at midnight, says he's got something important to tell me about," Harry said. "He wouldn't tell me what."

"Seamus said people have seen flashes of light in the forest," Alice said, "he reckons there's a Dragon on the loose."

"You can't go," Hermione said, "it'll be after curfew, and besides, you might be late for Sirius."

"I want to talk to Sirius," I said,."I'll keep him talking until Harry arrives."

"See Hermione, it'll be fine," Harry said.

"If you get caught, it's your own fault," Hermione warned as we arrived at the lake.

* * *

Later that evening, I was alone in the common room sitting on the couch. Harry had left about an hour priors to see Hagrid, and Alice and Hermione had gone to bed. I glanced at the clock above the mantel, it was almost one in the morning. Suddenly, Sirius' head appeared in the flames of the fire.

He blinked in surprise at seeing me. "Hello Janet, is Harry about?"

"He's gone to see Hagrid, he will be back soonish. So, how's free life treating you?"

"Dreadfully. Our House Elf did not clean the house while I was in Azkaban, so the house is a wreck and I'm having to clean it."He groaned, "the paperwork to formally adopt Harry is dreadfully long and over complicated. Then I have this lawsuit going on to prevent me from getting Harry, some Ministry busybody is behind that, one who is firmly in Dumbledore's corner."

I nodded catching his meaning on that one."So Dumbledore doesn't want you adopting Harry?"

"It seems that way. Also, I have this whole lawsuit to try and shut up Skeeter," he groaned, "that woman is a menace. I remember what she was like at school. We called her the cockroach, because no matter what we did we could not get her to go away, always nosing around where she wasn't wanted. I think she stole my animagus book at one point, it reappeared on my table. I guess she failed because we never did see any other animagus about and she couldn't keep a secret to save her life. I suppose she might have gotten something embarrassing and never told anyone. I think a cockroach or dung beetle would have appropriate, a vulture maybe, or a warthog…" He trailed off into his thoughts.

"Sirius, focus," I said, smiling at the disreputable man.

Sirius nodded. "How's Harry doing?"

"Well, he's extremely stressed about this whole tournament thing, which we are trying to help him with, though he won't admit that he's stressed. Things have gotten worse since Skeeter published her latest article," I grumbled.

"Ah, yes," Sirius said darkly, "what's this about you and Harry sleeping together?"

I groaned, "you don't actually believe that article, do you?"

"I don't know, she was pretty convincing," Sirius asked, his tone of voice implying something.

"I can assure you that nothing ever has, or will happen between Harry and myself. He is definitely not my type."

"What is your type?" Sirius asked. I think he raised an eyebrow, but it was hard to tell, seeing as he was made of fire and ash.

"Tall, brunette and female," I replied, assuming if anyone was not in a position to judge it was a man who spent a significant amount of time as a dog.

Sirius definitely raised both eyebrows at that. "Ah, I see." I swear if a fire could blush he was blushing. "I should probably change the subject now. Um, oh yeah, Remus is staying with me, he says hello, well, he would if it wasn't a full moon yesterday."

"Is he alright?" I asked.

"Yeah, nothing he hasn't gone through a hundred times before," Sirius dismissively. "He's just tired."

Suddenly, the portrait to the common room opened and Harry came through with his Invisibility cloak in his hands looking extremely nervous.

"Hello Harry, Sirius' face is here," I said to him.

Harry turned to me, a look of pure fear in his eyes."The first task, it's Dragons."

I looked at him in shock, "I was so sure the school wouldn't do something like that. Stupid, yes, dragon stupid, no."

But the look on his face said it all. Dragons were the first task. So that was why Hagrid told him to meet him at his hut.

"So I guess it'd be kind of useless asking how you are then," Sirius said jovially to Harry.

I sent a glare at Sirius before turning my attention to Harry. "Don't worry, Harry, we still have time before the task. There's bound to be some spell to help defeat Dragons. Just because I don't know it doesn't mean it doesn't exist."

"Janet's right, Harry," Sirius agreed, "Dragons we can deal with. But first, since you're here now, I have some other things to talk to you about. Karkaroff, the Durmstrang Headmaster, he was a Death Eater."

"You mean those things that were at the World Cup?" Harry asked.

Sirius nodded. "Yes, anyway, Karkaroff, he was caught, he was in Azkaban with me, but he got released. I'd bet everything that's why Dumbledore wanted an Auror at Hogwarts this year, to keep an eye on him. Moody caught Karkaroff, threw him into Azkaban himself, literally. He escorted the guy out to the island."

"So, that's why Karkaroff looked so scared of Uncle Alistair when the schools arrived, and maybe why Uncle Alistair's been acting so strangely," I said.

"Why did they release Karkaroff?" Harry asked.

"He did a deal with the Ministry of Magic," Sirius said bitterly. "He said he'd seen the error of his ways, and then he named names. He put a load of other people into Azkaban in his place. He's not very popular there, I can tell you. Bellatrix Lestrange used to shout about how she was going to gut him, that was usually the only thing that seemed to bring joy to the island for the Death Eaters. And since he got out, from what I can tell, he's been teaching the Dark Arts to every student who passes through that school of his, so watch out for the Durmstrang champion as well."

"Okay," Harry said slowly. "But… are you saying Karkaroff put my name in the goblet? Because if he did, he's a really good actor. He seemed furious about it, he wanted to stop me from competing."

"We know he's a good actor," Sirius said, "because he convinced the Ministry of Magic to set him free, didn't he? Now, I've been keeping an eye on the Daily Prophet, Harry—"

"—you and the rest of the world," Harry said bitterly.

"—and reading between the lines of that Skeeter woman's article last month. Moody was attacked the night before he started at Hogwarts. Yes, I know she says it was another false alarm," Sirius said hastily, seeing Harry about to speak, "but I don't think so."

"Voldemort has a spy here," I said. When the two of them looked at me strangely I elaborated, "I have dreams that sometimes show me things that are happening elsewhere in the world, it's a family thing. I saw Pettigrew talking to a spy whilst Voldemort talked to them both. The spy planted your name Harry, I don't know who it was, I couldn't see them, and I didn't hear their voice clearly."

Sirius nodded,."I think Voldemort's spy from your dream tried to stop Moody from getting to Hogwarts. I think they knew their job would be a lot more difficult with him around and no one's getting to look into it too closely. Mad-Eye's heard intruders a bit too often, but that doesn't mean he can't still spot the real thing. Moody was the best Auror the Ministry ever had."

"So… what are you saying?" Harry said slowly. "Karkaroff's the spy from Janet's dream who's trying to kill me? But, why?"

Sirius hesitated. "Strange things have been happening lately," he said slowly. "First with Janet's dreams showing Voldemort talking to his spy, then the Death Eaters becoming more active than usual lately. Especially at the Quidditch World Cup where one of them set off the Dark Mark, and then, remember that Ministry of Magic witch who went missing?"

"Bertha Jorkins?" Harry said. I had not heard anything about this, but I tended to ignore the news.

"Exactly. She disappeared in Albania, that's definitely where Voldemort was rumoured to be last, and she would have known the Triwizard Tournament was coming up, wouldn't she?"

"Yeah, but, it's not very likely she'd have walked straight into Voldemort, is it?" Harry said.

"Listen, I knew Bertha Jorkins," Sirius said sneering. "She was at Hogwarts when I was, a few years above your dad and me. And she was an idiot, a very nosy busybody, but no brains at all. It's not a good combination, Harry, I'd say she'd be very easy to lure into a trap."

"So… so Voldemort could have found out about the tournament from her?" Harry said. "Is that what you mean? You think Karkaroff might be here on his orders?"

"I don't know," Sirius said slowly. "I just don't know. Karkaroff doesn't strike me as the type who'd go back to Voldemort unless he knew Voldemort was powerful enough to protect him."

"I doubt he'd go back even then," I said. "From what you've told me, Karkaroff is a traitor and a coward. Voldemort would probably sooner kill him than let him back into his ranks. Besides, if Voldemort didn't kill him the other death eaters would for selling them out."

"Whoever put your name in that goblet," Sirius continued, "whether it was Karkaroff trying to get back in Voldemort's good books, or this mysterious spy. He, or she, did it for a reason, and I can't help thinking the tournament would be a very good way to attack you and make it look like an accident."

"Looks like a really good plan from where I'm standing," Harry said, grinning bleakly. "They'll just have to stand back and let the Dragons do their stuff."

"Right, these Dragons," Sirius said, speaking very quickly now. "There's a way, Harry. Don't be tempted to try a Stunning Spell, the Dragons are strong and too powerfully magical to be knocked out by a single Stunner. You need about half a dozen wizards at a time to overcome a Dragon—"

"Yeah, I know, I just saw," Harry said.

"But you can do it alone," Sirius said, "there is a way, and a simple spell's all you need, just, damn, it was on the tip of my tongue. What was the name of the spell again—?"

Sirius stopped speaking when we began to hear footsteps coming down the spiral staircase behind them. I was not sure if it was a bright idea for anyone else to see Sirius' head in the fireplace, even though he was innocent. I did not need people to report that they saw him and risk getting him in trouble.

"Just send a letter. Go!" Harry hissed.

Sirius sank back into the fire. Harry and I turned our attention to the spiral staircase. Who had decided to go for a stroll at one o'clock in the morning and stopped Sirius from telling Harry how to get past a Dragon? It was Ron. Dressed in his maroon paisley pyjamas, Ron stopped dead facing Harry and me across the room, and looked around.

"Who were you two talking to?" He asked with a yawn.

"What's that got to do with you?" Harry snarled. "What are you doing down here at this time of night?"

"I just wondered where you..." Ron broke off, shrugging. "Nothing. I'm going back to bed."

"Just thought you'd come nosing around, did you?" Harry shouted. I knew that Ron had no idea what he'd walked in on, knew he had not done it on purpose, but Harry did not seem to care.

"Sorry about that," Ron said, his face reddening in anger, "should've realized you didn't want to be disturbed. I'll let you get on with practicing for your next interview in peace."

Harry seized one of the POTTER REALLY STINKS badges that Colin Creevey had been trying to fix off the table and chucked it, as hard as he could, across the room. It hit Ron on the forehead and bounced off, I was impressed, it was a very good throw. "There you go," Harry said, "something for you to wear on Tuesday. You might even have a scar now, if you're lucky. That's what you want, isn't it?"

I watched as Harry strode across the room toward the stairs. I expected Ron to stop him, or hit him, or say something, but Ron just stood there in his too-small pyjamas as Harry stormed upstairs to the boys' dormitory. I turned to head up to the girls' dormitory, but stopped midway and looked at Ron. He had taken a seat on the couch and was holding the badge Harry had thrown at him. He threw it into the fire. I walked over to him and sat on the couch.

"You know, you have the worst timing, right?" I said with a smile, breaking the silence.

Ron just sat there staring at the fire ignoring me.

"Are you going to apologize to Harry, yet?" I asked. "He's your best friend and right now he needs your support."

Ron remained quiet.

"Ron, please, say something," I said. I was getting a bit annoyed by now.

"Who were you talking too? I know there was someone else here. I know you two think I'm stupid, but I'm not that stupid," Ron said at last.

"You're not stupid-" I began.

"Save it, I know I'm stupid, just tell me who you were talking too," Ron said as he continued to stare at the fire.

"We were talking to Sirius about what spell to use for the first task. Harry found out from Hagrid that it's Dragons," I said.

Ron's head whipped round to face me, his eyes wide and concerned and his mouth open in shock. "What?" Ron said in disbelief. "You're kidding."

"I wish I was," I said with an apologetic smile, "but I'm not. Harry's going to battle fire-breathing Dragons Tuesday."

Ron was silent for a moment. "I was a moron, wasn't I?"

"Could you be a bit clearer?" I asked, unsure what he was referring to specifically.

"Believing Harry put his name in the cup," Ron explained.

"Yes, yes you were," I nodded my head.

"I should apologise to Harry and Alice and everyone who I shouted at, shouldn't I?" Ron sounded embarrassed.

"Yeah, it would be a good idea," I said.

"What if he doesn't want to forgive me? Wouldn't blame him really, I was sort of out of line," Ron said.

"It doesn't hurt to try, Ron," I replied.

"I guess you're right," Ron muttered.

"Usually am," I said with a smile. "Besides, if he doesn't accept your apology, I think he would make a great water vole."

Ron chuckled. "Have you just been working your way through the rodents this year with your threats? I mean, you turned Pansy into a hamster."

"I hadn't noticed I had changed my threats, but if you say so."

An amicable silence fell on us for a second as we stared into the fire.

"So, are you going to explain Skeeter's article to me?" Ron asked.

"There's nothing to explain, she wrote an article full of lies," I said. "You know that. I mean, Harry and I is ridiculous, you know, with Alice and I being a thing."

"Yeah, you're right again. I was being stupid, as usual," Ron said hanging his head.

I patted him on the back. "It happens to the best of us."

Ron looked at me. "Except you, little miss perfect."

I held up my hands. "I make mistakes, you just don't see them very often, and tend to ignore them thanks to confirmation bias."

"I'm going to bed," Ron muttered tiredly as he yawned and stood. "I take it this means we have another manhunt, like last year."

"Yep, only this time, the man or woman we are looking for actually does want to kill us, or at least Harry," I said as I also stood. "On that cheery note, good night Ron."

"Yeah, night Janet."

We parted ways and went to bed. 'Why dragons?' I thought to myself as I changed into my nightie, 'Trolls I can prepare him for, Orcs, Karpori, Empousa, Lamia, Vampires, Werewolves, Grammar Goblins, duels, those weird monstrous Centaurs, maybe even Cyclops if I had to, I can help with, but not dragons, we don't cover them for years.' I sighed, looking over at Alice. She had kicked her blanket off at some point and was now shivering. I smiled and pulled her blanket back on her, she murmured my name, but did not wake. I kissed her cheek and went to bed.


	16. Chapter 16

The next morning, Harry and I told Hermione about the previous night's events. Hermione was perfectly calm and collected when she found out that Karkaroff was an ex-Death Eater and the first task was Dragons.

Yeah right.

"Dragons?!" Hermione shouted in disbelief. "They must be joking! You'll be burnt to a crisp!"

"Gee, thanks for the encouragement, Hermione," Harry deadpanned.

"Are you sure it's Dragons?" Hermione asked.

"Pretty sure, Hermione. I don't think I would imagine seeing a fifty foot fire-breathing Dragon," Harry said, his voice edging towards hysteria, he took a breath to calm himself. "Anyway, what about Karkaroff? If Sirius is right, shouldn't we be doing something about him?"

"Harry, I think keeping you alive after the task is a bit more important than Karkaroff at the moment," I said. "We'll worry about him when the first task is over. Besides, we're not even sure if Karkaroff was the one to put your name in the goblet, it could've been Voldemort's spy."

"What if Voldemort's spy is Karkaroff?" Harry questioned. "You said you never saw the person's face in your dream, it could be him for all we know."

"Harry, Janet's right, we need to focus on this task first, then we'll figure out Karkaroff. If he was the one who put your name in the cup then you showing up to the first task unprepared would make his mission easier," Hermione said.

"Alright, but how am I going to stop the Dragons from killing me?" Harry asked.

"I'm sure there're loads of books on Dragons in the library," Hermione said.

So, the three of us set off to the library. We pulled every book off the shelf relating to Dragons and began to search through the large pile.

"Talon-clipping by charms… treating scale-rot... This is no good, this is for people like Hagrid who want to keep them healthy," I muttered to myself.

"Dragons are extremely difficult to slay, owing to the ancient magic that imbues their thick hides, which none but the most powerful spells can penetrate... But Sirius said a simple one would do it," Hermione said as she frowned at her book.

"Let's try some simple spellbooks, then," Harry said, throwing aside Men Who Love Dragons Too Much. I picked it up and read for a little, blanched at the contents, trying to scrub the image from my brain whilst wondering why it was in the school library. I blamed the twins.

* * *

We continued to look through the mountain of books, Hermione whispering to herself as she read. "Well, there are Switching Spells...but what's the point of switching it? Unless you swapped its fangs for wine-gums or something that would make it less dangerous… Actually, even then the force of the bite would kill you," she sighed. 'The trouble is, like that book said, not much is going to get through a Dragon's hide… I'd say transfigure it, but something that big, you really haven't got a hope, I doubt even Professor McGonagall or Janet… unless you're supposed to put the spell on yourself? Maybe give yourself extra powers? But they're not simple spells. I mean, we haven't done any of those in class, I only know about them because I've been doing O.W.L. practice papers. I bet Janet's done them, but she might not be able to teach Harry in time for the first task..."

"Hermione," Harry said, through gritted teeth, "would you mind keeping your thoughts in your head for a bit, please? I'm trying to concentrate."

"Don't stress, Harry," I said, trying to calm him down. "We still have time."

"We have two days, Janet," Harry snapped, "and we haven't found a single thing to use against the Dragons! Janet, Demigods fight Dragons, how do you guys beat one?"

"Usually we have a group of people and attack it from all angles with spears and grappling hooks until either someone manages to pull off a scale and stab something important, or alternatively an archer manages to shoot it in the eye or in the chinks of its armour. Or we retreat. Sometimes people take down dragons based on dumb luck or environmental manipulation, Leroy famously dropped a wrecking ball on one. Usually we try to avoid Dragons." I thought mournfully of Zoë's death by Ladon and Atlas.

"So, I can't use the Demigod method then. How am I supposed to keep them from attacking me? Once they see me—"

"That's it!" Hermione exclaimed while Madam Pince shushed her, she lowered her voice to a whisper. "Harry, you could use your invisibility cloak! The Dragons won't be able to see you and you'll have a less likely chance of being attacked, you could easily defeat it."

"That's not a bad idea," Harry said.

"I don't know," I said sceptically. "Not much is known about the eyesight of Dragons. Surprisingly, no-one wants to test it. It's entirely possible the Dragon might be able to see through it as well, or the Dragon could use its other senses to detect your presence. It's believed some species can see magic, but that's only theoretical."

"Back to the drawing board, I suppose," Hermione sighed, opening another book.

"At least you had an idea, you're doing better than I am," I said with a smile.

"Oh no, he's back again," Hermione said irritably as Viktor Krum slouched in, cast a surly look at the three of them, and settled himself in a distant corner with a pile of books. "Come on, we'll go back to the common room. His fan club will be here soon, twittering away and then we really won't be able to concentrate..."

And it turned out Hermione was right, for the moment we stepped out of the library, a group of girls tiptoed past us, one of them wearing a Bulgaria scarf tied around her waist.

* * *

"There you guys are," Alice said when we returned to the Common Room. She was sitting on an armchair next to the fire, I walked over and sat on the arm of the chair, Harry and Hermione sat on a sofa together. "John was looking for you a little while ago, said he'd found out about what the first task is. He left a note, I may or may not have read it. It's Dragons. He snuck out last night to investigate the strange flashes of light in the woods and saw some caged Dragons."

"I know," Harry said, sounding utterly terrified, he looked terrified as well, as though he had started thinking about what might happen, "about the Dragons, not John sneaking out. Hagrid showed me last night."

"Oh, okay then," Alice said as she scrunched up the note and threw it into the fire. "I guess that means you guys have been in the library all day. Any luck yet?"

"Nothing," I said, "I can't think of anything that Harry could do to beat it."

Alice puffed out her cheeks as she thought. "Well, the only thing I can think of is that a Dragon's biggest weaknesses are its eyes, nose and mouth because they aren't armoured inside."

"So, I have to shoot a spell down its throat?" Harry asked sceptically. "Won't that mean I'd have to be standing in front of its mouth, which would mean I'd be fried?"

"Well, you'd have to put out its pilot light first," Alice said with a smile and a shrug.

"We are going down to the lake right now," I decided, "I've had an idea for a helpful spell."

The others did not even question me as we went down to the lake.

The sun was starting to sink low in the sky when we reached the lake. The evenings were drawing in earlier and earlier as we neared winter. The sinking sunlight shimmered off the water of the lake, making it glitter and gleam. The giant squid raised one tentacle out the water, as though to bat away the sun or to lift it back into the sky.

"Right Harry, the spell is aqua eructo," I said. " Watch me and then cast it over the lake. **A** **qua Eructo**." A jet of water sprayed out over the lake, going about thirty feet before hitting the surface.

" **Aqua Eructo** ," Harry cast. A trickle of water came from the end of his wand.

"A good start Harry, but you got the motion slightly wrong…"

We practiced the spell for another couple of hour before I was even slightly pleased with the result. In the end, Harry managed a jet that went six feet and I declared it close enough and told him to practice.

* * *

Monday morning came and Harry's nerves were at their height. As we walked down to the Great Hall he kept jumping as though every sound was a dragon trying to kill him. I had given up on small talk almost immediately. When we reached the Great Hall, we saw Alice and Hermione seated at the Gryffindor table. I noticed Alice had a letter in her hand. Hermione saw us and motioned for us to come over to them.

"Who's the letter from?" Harry asked Alice as he sat next to her.

"Sirius and Remus," Alice said. "They've given you an idea for the task."

Alice handed the letter to Harry, I struggled to read it over his shoulder.

Dear Harry,  
Sirius informed me that you are fighting dragons for the first task. We've been mulling over ideas for how you'll defeat them. There are a few spells such as Aguamenti and Aqua Eructo (Water summoning spells) and the Conjunctivitis Curse. If you use the Conjunctivitis Curse then aim it for the dragon's eyes, as a dragon's eyes are its weakest point.  
We wish you the best of luck. We know you are perfectly capable of mastering these spells in time.  
You'll do fantastic!  
Sirius and Remus

"Didn't we practice the Conjunctivitis Curse from the books you got from the library?" Harry questioned.

Hermione nodded and frowned. "Though that was several weeks ago you practiced them."

"I'm sure if he reviews them he'll be fine. Lessons start in a few minutes, we can go over them after lessons," Alice suggested.

Harry nodded in response. I noticed Cedric leaving the room and realised that it was highly likely no-one had told him. I did not have lessons next as normally it was Transfigurations, so I decided to tell him. It seemed unfair if he did not know, especially as it was likely Krum and Fleur already knew. "I'll see you later," I said. I then followed Cedric out of the Great Hall.

"Cedric, wait up!" I called as ran down the corridor after him, he turned to face me.

"Oh, hello Janet, I haven't seen you since the World Cup. What can I do for you?" Cedric asked with a smile.

"The first task, it's Dragons," I said, seeing no reason to sugar coat it.

"What?" Cedric asked, going very pale.

"We found out a couple of days ago, John went into the woods to investigate those weird flashes of light and found four caged Dragons."

Cedric sighed."Thanks for telling me. If you don't mind, have you got any ideas of how to beat it?" He looked totally lost as he stood there trying to work something out.

"A Dragon's only weak spots are its eyes, nose and mouth and, um, other orifices, but those three are its main weaknesses."

Cedric frowned."Maybe I won't need to beat it, I could just distract it," he said to himself. "Thanks for telling me Janet. I'll go and think this over. See you around."

"You too. Take care,"

Cedric barked a bitter laugh. "I'll need help with that," he muttered as he left.

I wandered the halls for a while as I mulled over the task. Suddenly I felt woozy and the world rippled around me. It was Drake again. I saw him appear in front of me. He was wearing his celestial bronze plate armour again. He pressed down on Mum's symbol on his helmet and the whole suit folded in on itself and slid into the helmet somehow.

"Gotta love the Dwarves' magic blacksmiths," he said as he removed his helmet. He had lost weight since I had last seen him. "They don't let little things like the laws of physics stop them from making what they want."

"What do you want Drake?" I asked as levelly as possible.

"The downfall of the Gods, more power, to be better than you, but right now, I want to chat." He smiled at me.

"I'm not joining you," I said angrily.

"I know, I'm just going to warn you against returning to America this year." For a split second, Drake looked conflicted.

"Why do you care? You hate me, you want to kill me," I said angrily.

"I don't want to kill you, you're my sister. I want to beat you for once yes, but I don't want to kill you."

"Shut up!" I shouted. "You don't care! If you did, you would never have betrayed us! Get out! Go! I never want to see you again unless you're on the other end of my sword!" I heard something shatter behind me. I turned. In my anger my magic had lashed out and broken the windows in the wall behind me.

I turned back to Drake, who scowled. "Well, if that is how you feel, I will go and leave you to your pathetic life trying to keep a mortal alive when he is destined to die."

I was about to reply, to ask him what he meant, when I started feeling light headed again and he vanished.

* * *

I quickly left the corridor before anyone saw me with the broken windows. As I walked I angrily thought over what Drake had said.

"He doesn't want me to go back to America and fight, so I guess, when the time comes, that means I'll have to. I mean, I was planning to anyway, but this just gives me more motivation," I muttered to myself as I wandered around the corridors before deciding to go to the library.

As it was a nice day and the library was almost totally abandoned as everyone had taken their studies outside. Everyone except Krum, who was sitting in a corner, reading a book for once, his flock of followers not hanging around him for once. "No fangirls?" I asked, startling him slightly (I'm pretty sure he flinched a tiny bit). "Have you suddenly lost your popularity?"

"No," he said stoically, "I asked them to leave so I could prepare, it took a lot of persuading and arguing."

"It's nice that it's quiet in here for once," I said, smiling at him. I think he almost cracked a smile.

"Where is 'ermione ?" Krum asked, looking over my shoulder, seeming disappointed when he did not see her.

"In Transfigurations," I said.

"Should you not be with her?" Krum asked.

"I don't do Transfigurations anymore," I said, turning to leave. I had something I wanted to find.

"What are you doing here?" Krum asked, putting down his book. It was a badly written book about Dragons that we had ruled out early on in our search for ways to beat the Dragon.

"Same as you, preparing for the Task, but on Harry's behalf seeing as he's stuck in lessons."

Something had gone wrong with the book Mum had given me. It no longer returned to the nearest shelf to me. I had gone looking for it the morning after we discovered Harry had to fight the Dragon, but it had not appeared in the Library. I got the feeling either Mum had taken it back, or Drake stole it somehow, or it was angry that Drake had used it to look up the ritual he had killed dryads for (it was a semi-sentient magical object, they tend to be temperamental). Whatever the reason, I did not have it when I needed it.

"Harry, he is lucky to have friend like you," Krum said, sounding almost wistful.

"I suppose he is," I said. "Do you not have a friend you can rely on Viktor?"

"I," Krum looked at the floor, his facade cracking. He looked sad and small. When he spoke he sounded like a lost child. "I don't know, people, some pretend to like me, for fame and glory of being my friend. Some may like me, but I don't know who."

"Sometimes you have to take the plunge and hope for the best. Anyway, see you around Viktor, I have research to do."

Krum got out of his chair. "I will help you, it would be beneficial for us to both do the looking." I raised an eyebrow at him. He smiled back weakly. "As you say, sometimes you have to take the plunge."

I smiled at him. "Come on then, but stay quiet and close. We're going to the Restricted Section. We will have to be silent. If we get caught we are in lots of trouble."

"How will we not be caught?" Krum asked hesitantly.

"I will hide us, but we will still have to be careful. My spell isn't perfect." I led him to the iron door that marked the start of the Restricted Section of the library. I carefully manipulated the Mist to hide us from prying eyes. "Watch out for ghosts, I can't hide us from them." Krum looked a little confused, but nodded anyway.

I unlocked the iron door and pushed it open. The well-oiled hinges swung open with barely a sound (Filch might be a git, but he is good at his job). I stepped inside, Krum hesitantly followed.

The Restricted Section was lit by several small wall sconces; the area was lined with bookshelves containing tonnes of forbidden books. I walked over to the shelf and picked one up. It was a book about pure blood supremacy. I shuddered and put it back. I carefully crept through the library, Krum following closely. We passed rows of books, each bookshelf was themed and the themes seemed to be grouped into sections. Some of the books were chained down, several were in cages, and one appeared to be eating another that had somehow ended up in the wrong cage. We started in the debunked myths section, then passed through banned history, then into potions, and then, finally, we reached monsters. The monsters section was the largest. I ignored the books about Wendigos, Chupacabras and Vampires, because at the end was a book about Dragons. I hesitantly took it off the shelf, taking the utmost care not to set off any traps or spells.

"Is that it?" Krum asked.

"I'm not sure," I said, "but it might be useful."

"Ghost!" Krum hissed.

I spun around. The Bloody Baron was hovering at the intersection of the aisle we were in and the main corridor.

"Quietly, follow me," I said as I led us in the opposite direction. The Baron did not seem to notice us. We reached the end of the aisle. I quickly checked left and right. No ghosts. "This way," I whispered and led Krum parallel to the main corridor, occasionally stopping as the Baron drifted up and down the other route. We soon reached the end of the Restricted Section, but had to get to the main corridor to get out the only exit. We carefully walked along the nearest aisle as The Baron floated passed, muttering to himself in Old English.

"We are going to go for the door as quickly and quietly as possible," I whispered.

The Baron floated passed, heading away from the door. "Now!" I hissed. I lead Krum quickly to the door, passing an oblivious Filch, who was walking by. He had left the door open.

We re-entered the library proper, leaving behind the dimly lit Restricted Section.

"So, shall ve see if that book is good?" Krum asked.

We found a concealed alcove in the back of the library and set the book down on the table there. I carefully checked the book over once again for traps and then hesitantly opened it. No alarms, no explosions, just a book. We read it over. It was fairly dull, mostly about how to capture Dragons with groups of people. There was also a comprehensive guide to different Dragons. The only weaknesses it talked about were the ones we already knew about, as well as a noting that giving Dragons poisoned goat meat was also effective, due to Dragons' love of goat meat.

"This is not very helpful," I said frowning at the book, "we don't have any goats on hand." Krum snorted. I turned the page. There was a handwritten note at the end.

I began reading it for Krum's benefit, it is difficult enough to read a second language without having to deal with bad handwriting (although it was a second language for both of us, possibly even a third for him seeing as Durmstrang taught in either German or a Nordic language). "Note on Dragons: due to their weight to wingspan ratio, Hungarian Horntails have problems with opening their wings if they're already in the air. But, when they are in the air they are not to be engaged in battle due to their agile flight, they are far clumsier on the ground, due to their short rear legs.

Swedish Short Snouts are not to be allowed to breathe fire. They have the hottest fire of all Dragons and tend to melt even rocks in some cases of sustained use. They are, however, lazy, meaning they easily distracted by small animals, about beagle sized appear to be best. They will tend to go for what they perceive to be the easiest target.

Romanian Longhorns are the least agile on land and in the sky and can easily be defeated by an agile foe. However, their thick armour and large horns make them hard to kill.

Ukrainian Iron Bellies are to be avoided at all costs. I have not found a weakness yet, bar large numbers of wizards.

Chinese Fireballs or Lion Dragons are most susceptible to the conjunctivitis curse due to their large eyes. Be wary, these Dragons can hunt in packs of up to six and are considered holy by some tribes in China (as I found to my expense).

Welsh Greens are the second smallest breed of Dragon with a distinctive melodious roar. They are moderately docile and tend to avoid humans. They can be lulled to sleep through non-recorded music (it is unknown why our gramophone could not lull one to sleep, even with several different types of music tried). Welsh Greens pose the least threat, but poaching of any British Dragon is recommended against, due to the harsh punishments from the Ministry (including Azkaban stays exceeding a year, which is usually lethal) as well as the Welsh Green's weaker hide being worth less than its counterparts.

Hebridean Blacks are larger and more aggressive than their Welsh counterparts and have stronger hides. These Dragons are not to be fought at night due to their colouration making them hard to spot. They rarely attack humans and are the only known Dragons unable to breathe fire. Like their Welsh counterparts, they are protected by the British Ministry with harsh punishments.

Norwegian Ridgebacks are one of the only two venomous species of Dragons. Uniquely amongst Dragons, they will eat water mammals. Ridgebacks tend to become docile and drowsy after feeding, except for nesting females, who become more aggressive.

Peruvian Vipertooths are the other venomous breed of Dragons. They are also the smallest species, requiring only two to three wizards to overpower them. Vipertooth venom is deadly within hours and is made worse by the Vipertooth being very good at concealment and their love of human flesh.

The Antipodean Opaleye of New Zealand and Australia is the most docile Dragon, jointly with the Welsh Green. The Opaleye only kills if ousted from its territory or if threatened, but if threatened it is highly dangerous, not to be approached.

These are the only Dragons I have ever come across. However, I am aware of a dozen more species in Africa, the Americas and Asia. I have also heard of quite a few more in Europe, especially around Greece, Italy and Anatolia, which have very high Dragon populations for some reason."

"This book is useful," Krum said as I finished reading.

"Yeah," I said as I picked up some parchment, ink and a quill from a nearby table and copied down the salient points. "We'll have to return it somehow. They might notice that it's gone."

"I agree," Krum said as he did the same as me. "We should leave it on table, where it will be found."

"Sounds like a plan," I said. When we had both finished making notes I picked up the book and moved it to a nearby table. It was nearly time for my next lesson. "See you around Krum."

"You as well, Janet," he said not looking up from the page of notes. I smiled and left him there.


	17. Chapter 17

I joined Alice as she left Transfigurations, she looked at me and frowned, "what did you do?"

"I don't know what you mean," I said, feigning innocence.

"You have that look in your eye that you get when you've done something dangerous. How much trouble are you in?" She folded her arms across her chest.

I sighed overdramatically and hung my head. "I broke into the Restricted Section with Krum."

"Oh," she said relaxing, "I thought you'd turned someone into a harvest mouse, or something." She blinked before exclaiming, "Wait, why did you go with Krum?"

"I don't know, he looked lonely and I decided to let him tag along," I said with a shrug.

"Well, I hope it was worth it," Alice said.

"Yep, it was. Where's Harry?"

Alice shrugged.

"Hi Janet," Harry said as he slouched over. He looked scared and nervous.

I handed him the page of notes I had made from the book. "I think you might find this useful."

Harry looked over the page and brightened up, "how did you find this? We read every book in the library."

"Not every book," I corrected.

Harry frowned before a look of realisation spread over his face. "Oh, you looked in the," he looked around, as though he had heard something, a look of confusion on his face, there was no-one else in the corridor. Then I heard it, buzzing. I looked around until my eyes settled on a jewelled beetle that was hovering near us, despite it being the beginning of winter. This beetle was different to any I had seen in Scotland before, it did not flit about, it was hovering near us, as though it was listening.

"Shh," I hushed, "we have a spy," I grabbed for the beetle, which avoided my grabbing hand and flew down the corridor.

"Why are we attacking beetles, Janet?" Harry asked.

"Harry, beetles tend to not fly around in the winter, it's too cold for them, and they rarely hover that close to a person. I think we have another animagus flying about."

"Nah," Alice said elbowing me in the side, "you're just paranoid. I'm pretty sure that's just a beetle."

"Perhaps, but a healthy dose of paranoia rarely hurts anyone, except people who surprise Uncle Alistair," I smiled at Alice. "Besides, remember what Sirius said, Skeeter stole his book on Animagus, she might be a beetle."

"That seems unlikely," Alice replied sceptically.

"Guys, we're late," Harry said uncomfortably. I pouted, causing Alice to giggle and poke my nose. "I'm serious, Flitwick will kill us."

I sighed. "Fine, let's go."

* * *

The first task was held in a round, outdoor arena that was built next to the the Quidditch pitch. The stands were wooden and had been enchanted to prevent anyone except the judges from interfering in the matches. Alice, John, Luna and I were sitting together in the front row. Mrs O'Leary was sitting at my feet. She would occasionally pop her head over the edge to see what we were all looking at, before deciding it was uninteresting and returning to where she was laying.

"I do hope Harry's okay," John said nervously as he fidgeted uncomfortably.

I heard a familiar sneer. "Potter probably won't make it to round two," Draco said from behind us. Mrs O'Leary opened one eye before deciding he was unimportant and going back to dozing in the warm autumn sunlight.

"Are you harassing people again Mr Malfoy?" Uncle Alistair said from where he was passing on the stairs.

"N-no sir," Draco squeaked, turning as white as his hair.

"Good, you make sure it stays that way, or you're a ferret for life." He stomped off. Draco waited a second then ran off.

"That was convenient," Hermione said. "Good thing Professor Moody came along or Draco might have started something."

"Strange, why didn't Draco have any goons?" I asked. "Draco doesn't start anything without his trained apes."

"I'm sure he had a reason," Alice said, "although, it was strange that Professor Moody just happened to be here, especially when the teachers are all on the other side of the arena." She pointed at the opposite side of the stadium, where all the other teachers were sitting down underneath the judging box.

"Maybe he doesn't want to sit with the other teachers," I said with a shrug.

"What's on this side of the arena that he could want?" Alice wondered. "He didn't talk to you."

"I don't know, what Uncle Alistair does is up to him," I said.

Alice raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"Janet something strange is go-" She was cut off by McGonagall's magically amplified voice.

"Please take your seat, the first task is about to start."

The excited talking quietened slightly as people found their seats, Mrs O'Leary sat up excitedly as the tension in the arena rose.

"Ladies, Gentlemen and assorted others," the announcer started, "welcome to the first task, in which our champions will face off against one of a quartet of Dragons. We have a Swedish Short Snout, a Welsh Green, a Chinese Fireball and a Hungarian Horntail and our champions are choosing their Dragons as I speak. They will have to retrieve the golden egg from the centre of the arena. I have just been informed that the selection has been made! Miss Fleur Delacour will be facing off against the ferocious Welsh Green, Mr Viktor Krum faces the mighty Chinese Fireball, Mr Cedric Diggory will be tested against the majestic Swedish Short Snout and Mr Harry Potter has been matched with the terrifying Hungarian Horntail. This is setting up to be a very exciting competition! Ah, here's the first Dragon now! It looks like the Welsh Green is being led into the arena."

The small (by Dragon standards) green Dragon was led into the arena by its handlers. The Welsh Green looks like a stereotypical Dragon, it is the one on the Welsh flag after all. The arena itself seemed a little small. It was a pit in the ground lined with large boulders and with craggy stone walls. The Dragon was attached to a chain at the centre of the arena on top of a large boulder where there was a nest of eggs, including one golden egg. It roared and the book turned out to be right, its roar did seem to have an almost melodious undertone. Mrs O'Leary barked back excitedly, her tail thumping on the floor as it wagged. I laughed and scratched her behind the ear, causing her to pant happily. A door opened in the side of the arena and Fleur was led in. She looked like she would prefer to be just about anywhere else (so would most people). She walked forwards slowly, hesitantly, and I had to acknowledge how brave she was. Even if she was in the arena with the weakest of the four Dragons, it was still a Dragon. The Dragon turned to face her and she stopped. The Dragon opened its mouth, ready to breathe fire, and she stayed still. I expected her to run, or to cast a spell, instead she cleared her throat and stood her ground. Then she sang.

Fleur sang her song so softly that I could not heard the words, but I could hear her voice, it was clear and beautiful. The Dragon blinked. Then she waved her wand and conjured a harp, which started playing by itself. The Dragon blinked again before pulling away from her. It yawned and curled up as she lulled it to sleep.

Fleur carefully clambered over the rocks. She did not stop singing as she climbed, and she eventually reached the Dragon and picked up the egg. The crowd roared its approval, but quickly hushed when the Dragon opened its eyes. Fleur quickly sung it back to sleep. She left the arena, then the crowd roared its approval as the handlers entered and led the Dragon out, and Mrs O'Leary went nuts barking at the Dragon.

"Well, that was fast," the announcer said. "The judges are now talking amongst themselves, they will be awarding points based not only on speed, but performance and entertainment. Whilst Miss Delacour was fast and gave a good performance, it may not have been exciting enough for our judges."

Dumbledore raised his wand. A silver eight shot into the sky and the crowd murmured an agreement. Next was Madame Maxime. She gave Fleur a nine. Bagman gave a seven, Crouch gave a nine and Karkaroff gave her a seven as well.

"This gives Fleur Delacour a grand total of forty out of a maximum of fifty points, an impressive start to our tournament. Next up is Cedric Diggory and the Swedish Short Snout!"

The handlers returned, leading a large blue Dragon about half again the size of the Welsh Green. The proud animal glared at the stands as it was chained to the ground. Mrs O'Leary snarled back and then started barking before I finally shut her up. She had evidently forgotten she was the size of a beagle and I did not want her antagonising a Dragon. Cedric nervously entered the arena, he was visibly shaking and his usually well-styled hair was limp and greasy. He absently ran a shaking hand through his hair.

The Dragon wasted no time in shooting fire at Cedric, who quickly cast a shield. The Dragon's flames cut off just as Cedric managed to dodge behind a boulder. He shoot a variety of curses at the Dragon, most sizzling out on its beautiful scales. The Dragon used its elegant neck to effortlessly move out the way of any that were getting near its eyes. Cedric looked like he was panicking as he looked around the arena until his eyes settled on a rock. He quickly transfigured the rock into a dog. The dog, a greyhound, looked very surprised to suddenly exist and even more surprised to see a Dragon leering down at it, so it did the appropriate thing and peed itself. The dog then did the other appropriate action and ran away. The Dragon, apparently losing interest in Cedric, started awkwardly waddling after the dog, sporadically spiting fire at the poor thing as it ran around the arena trying to find a way out as Cedric ran for the egg. The Dragon finally caught the dog, which turned back into rocks when it was bitten to the confusion of the Dragon, just as Cedric got to the egg. The handlers entered the arena and began the process of shepherding a fire breathing Dragon out of the arena as Cedric ran out of the arena through a side door. "That was certainly exciting, wasn't it?" the announcer shouted. There was a cheer of agreement. "Whilst not as quick as Miss Delacour, I'm sure I'm not the only who found that more exciting. That was a very impressive and creative use of a transfiguration."

Dumbledore raised his wand, silencing the arena as we waited to see the points. Dumbledore awarded eight points, as did Madame Maxime and Bagman, Crouch smiled as he gave a nine and Karkaroff gave a six, to much booing.

"The judges have awarded Mr Diggory thirty nine points out of fifty, putting him one point behind Miss Delacour. Now on to our next match, Viktor Krum and the Chinese Fireball."

Once the magnificent golden dragon was safely anchored in the middle of the arena, Krum entered. He did not look as nervous as his predecessors did; instead he eyed the Dragon with cool determination. The Dragon wasted no time in shooting a fireball at him. Krum summoned a shield to block it and responded with aqua eructo. The noise of people cheering him on blocked out the name of the spells he was casting. The Dragon snapped its mouth shut as the jet of water hit it squarely on the nose, It lurched forward and roared. Krum responded with another jet of water.

"He's good," Alice said as the jet of water went up the Dragon's nose, causing the Dragon to sneeze out a cloud of ash.

"Yeah, he is," I said as Krum walked over to the still sneezing Dragon.

The Dragon turned to face him. They were only ten feet apart. The Dragon opened its mouth to breathe fire, but only soot came out. Krum shot a spell into the Dragon's eye, which instantly began clouding over. It was the conjunctivitis curse. The Dragon screamed and Krum was forced to dodge a flailing tail. Then he scrambled away from a claw. Eventually he managed to bypass the partially blind Dragon and grab the egg. The handlers entered the arena and shot glares at Krum for how he had treated their Dragon as they led the poor creature from the arena.

"Krum is not making himself any fans amongst the handlers today, but I think there might be a few more in the crowd after that performance."

Dumbledore raised his wand—the stadium was instantly so quiet you could hear a pin drop—and a silver nine shots into the sky with roars of cheers. Madame Maxime awarded him an eight, Bagman glared as he gave a seven, Crouch gave a nine and Karkaroff a ten. "Forty three out of fifty, that gives Viktor Krum the lead by three points as we move on to our fourth and final contestant, Harry Potter and the monstrous Hungarian Horntail."

The Hungarian Horntail was led into the arena, there were at least twice as many handlers leading it than led any of the other Dragons. The Horntail was huge and seemed to be very foul tempered as it took swipes at the handlers as they fixed it down. Mrs O'Leary whimpered and hid when it glared at her. Harry by comparison looked like a very scared, very pale ant next to the giant monster.

"Potter is so dead," Malfoy said leaning forward. He had returned with his goons.

"Shut up, Malfoy," John said angrily.

"I don't think I will. What are you going to do without Harry? You won't have your famous little friend. I suppose to two of you at least he's a little more than a friend."

I suppressed my anger with Malfoy, deciding that he was not worth getting expelled for.

"No rebuttal Janet?" Malfoy asked, sounding confused. "None of your usual wit, even if it is a dull as Weasley's brain?"

I continued to ignore the little prat as he jeered and insulted me, making references to that Skeeter article as he did so.

Harry was running from boulder to boulder down in the arena, dodging fireball after fireball, but not getting any closer to the egg. He raised his wand and a broom shot into the arena. He climbed on and flew off. The Dragon took flight as well, easily breaking through its chains as gave chase.

"That's not good," Alice said. "We now have a Dragon loose at Hogwarts."

"Looks like I won't get to see Potter get eaten," Malfoy said, sounding disappointed.

"Shut up, Malfoy!" John shouted standing to face Malfoy.

Luna pulled at his hand to try to sit him down. "He's not worth it," she said, not sounding as absent minded as usual.

"What are you going to do Hex?" Malfoy asked as his two goons stood up.

Alice and I stood up as well. "John, sit down," I said as forcefully as I could.

"No, I've had it with this smug piece of shit's attitude and his belief that he is better than us simply because he claims his blood is purer and his bank account is larger."

"But that does make me better than all of you, especially you Hex, what with your family history."

John flinched.

"My family aren't saints, but at least my Dad isn't a murderer and a cultist," John shouted.

"My father was under the imperius curse when he did those things," Draco shouted. He sounded pained.

"Get real, the only reason your Dad isn't in Azkaban is because he bribed everyone he could find."

Harry chose that moment to re-enter the arena and snatch up the golden egg. The crowd roared their appreciation and cheered at his victory.

"Well, that was certainly exciting, I must say the suspense was killing me, my heart hasn't beat that fast since the Arrows beat the Cavaliers at the last Quidditch Cup final. Although, someone might want to find that Dragon before it eats someone."

Dumbledore gave Harry a nine, as did Maxime. Bagman grinned widely as he gave Harry a ten, and Crouch gave an eight. Karkaroff hesitated before giving him a six, but was forced to change it to an eight when people started booing him and throwing things at him. "Ladies and gentlemen, that puts Harry Potter in the lead with forty four points, Viktor Krum is in second with forty three, Fleur Delacour is third on forty and Cedric Diggory is fourth on thirty nine. That is the end of the first task ladies and gentlemen! I hope you enjoyed yourselves as much as I did, see you at the second task."

"As I was saying," John said turning back to Draco, but he was hurriedly leaving the stands. I looked to the others before giving chase, pushing passed various people as I tried to keep Draco in sight at all times, Mrs O'Leary at my heels. I followed him round to the back of the arena where I saw something surprising. He was talking to Uncle Alistair.

"I was unable to get her to respond," Draco said, hanging his head.

"She is better disciplined than I thought. You must try again. We need her to harm you in some way, only then can your father take action," Uncle Alistair said, taking a swig from his hip flask.

"I don't see why it has to be me, why not Crabbe or Goyle?" Draco whined.

"Because only your father has the influence to do what must be done. This must be done, and don't you forget it," he turned and stumped off.

I ran in the opposite direction.

* * *

When I was near one of the entrances to the school I stopped to think. 'What are Draco and Uncle Alistair colluding together for? Who are they trying to get to respond? Is it me? That would explain why Draco was trying very hard to start a fight. But what would it achieve? I would get in trouble, but that would not help Uncle Alistair, especially if Lucius got involved.' I stood there, gathering my thoughts as I petted Mrs O'Leary.

"There you are Janet." I turned to see Alice walking towards me. I had at some point started walking around at random.

"Why'd you run off like that?" Alice asked. I told her about Draco and Uncle Alistair's conversation. "Oh, that is strange. I had not seen that coming. Why would Draco and your Godfather work together to get you in trouble?"

"I don't know," I said honestly, "but I intend to find out."

Alice smiled. "Come on, the twins are holding a party for Harry in the Common Room, the weirdness can wait another day, let's just celebrate that Harry is alive today."

"I suppose that would be a good idea," I said as I was pulled into a kiss by my girlfriend.

We ended up missing the party, but I think we had more fun as we kissed, cuddled and talked until curfew.


	18. Chapter 18

The next day, which happened to be a Saturday, Ron and Harry had made up and we were all sitting at breakfast. As per usual, Mrs O'Leary was under the table, scrounging bacon off of other students. It appeared that at this point the entirety of Gryffindor had fallen in love with my dog. Hermione was reading a newspaper and looked agog and furious.

"Look at this," she exclaimed. "I can't believe it she's done it again!"

She cleared her throat and began reading, "'Miss Granger, a plain but ambitious girl, seems to be developing a taste for famous wizards. Her latest prey sources report is none other than the Bulgarian bon-bon Viktor Krum.' It's not just me, she also goes after Janet. 'However, it is possible that her feelings are unrequited as it has been passed to me by reliable sources, that Mr Krum has been spending a lot of time alone with the stunningly beautiful seductress Janet Harker. No word yet on how Harry Potter is taking these latest emotional blows."

"She is still calling me a harlot," I said with a groan. "Great, just great."

"So, you're a seductress now are you?" Malfoy asked, appearing behind me. "And stunningly beautiful goes a little far. I'd say the plain tag fits more to you than to Miss Granger."

"I'm unsure if you're trying to insult me or flirt with Hermione," I said without turning to face him. "Either way, you're not very good at it."

"I, er, I," Malfoy stuttered. Mrs O'Leary interrupted him by appearing from under the table and growling at him.

"I'd be careful what you say," I said calmly. "She doesn't like it when people insult me, and she's always hungry."

"You will rue this day!" Draco declared before storming off.

Mrs O'Leary switched from scary guard dog to softy in about two seconds. She looked over at me and cocked her head, her tongue lolling out one corner of her mouth. "Good girl! You scared off the mean Draco," I stroked her head. "I think he likes me," I said, which made Alice chuckle.

"Everyone likes you Janet," Alice said with a smile.

"Who still uses the word 'rue'?" Hermione asked, which made us all laugh.

"Parcel for you, Mr Weasley," a first year said, handing Ron a parcel.

"Thanks, Nigel," Ron said. Nigel turned and walked off.

The parcel was not very large and did not rattle when Ron shook it. He tore off the brown paper to reveal an old brown cardboard box. He took off the lid and inside was a hideous mouldygreen dress robe with yellowed lace around the neck. It looked to be old enough to be in a museum. "Mum sent me a dress?" Ron shouted, causing everyone within earshot to laugh.

"Well it does match your eyes," Harry said between fits of laughter. "Is there a bonnet?"

"Ginny this must be for you," Ron said, trying to hand it to his sister.

Ginny turned her nose up at the robes. "I'm not wearing that, it's ghastly."

"They're not for Ginny they're for you!" Hermione said, finally recovering from her laughter. "They're old fashioned dress robes."

"Dress robes?" Ron asked incredulously, "For what? What could I need dress robes for?"

"Can all third year and above Gryffindor follow me please?" McGonagall called.

"Slytherin with me," Snape called.

"Ravenclaw, this way," Flitwick called.

"Hufflepuff, over here," Professor Burbage announced.

"I think we're going to find out," I said with a smile.

* * *

We followed McGonagall to a large classroom that had had its furniture removed. I sent Mrs O'Leary back to my room because I knew this would take a while.

"Line up, chop chop, boy, girl, boy, girl, alternating genders," McGonagall ordered.

When everyone found a place I ended up between Neville and Harry.

"The Yule Ball has been a tradition of the tri-wizard tournament since its inception," McGonagall told us. "On Christmas eve we and our guests gather in the great hall for well-mannered frivolity between the three schools. As representatives of the host school I expect each and every one of you to put your best foot forward, and I mean this literally because the Yule Ball is first and foremost... a dance."

Groans emerge from most of the boys. The other girls seem a lot more excited. "Silence. The house of Godric Gryffindor has commanded the respect of the wizard world for nearly ten centuries. I will not have you in the course of a single evening besmirching that name by behaving like a babbling, bumbling band of baboons. Now to dance is to let the body breathe, inside every girl a secret swan slumbers longing to burst forth and take flight. Inside every boy, a lordly lion prepared to prance. Mr Weasley, will you join me." It was not a request. She grabbed Ron's arm and pulled him up to dance. "Now, place your right hand on my waist."

"Where?" Ron squeaked.

"My waist."

Ron swallowed, but did what he was told as one of twins gave a wolf whistle.

"Now bend your arm. Mr Filch…" Filch frowned, but started the gramophone and McGonagall pulled Ron through a simple dance. "One two three, one two three, one two three."

"Oi!" Harry called to the twins, "Never gonna let him forget this are you?"

"Never," the twins said in sync, wide grins on their faces.

"Boys partner with the girl to your left and start dancing," McGonagall said returning Ron to his seat. To my right Neville stood and hesitantly offered me his hand. I accepted and we started dancing. Neither of us was very good at it, but I managed to not tread on his toes. The lack of coordination was made worse by Neville trying to not look at me.

"Neville, I'm not a gorgon, you can look at me."

Neville looked hesitantly at me. "Sorry, it's just, you're so pretty, I was scared I'd forget what I was doing."

I giggled. "That's nice of you to say Neville. So how are you? We haven't really talked much in a while."

Neville smiled weakly. "I'm okay. I, I, I don't believe the articles by Skeeter by the way. She says ridiculous things."

I smiled at him. "Thanks Neville." He smiled back.

As we danced Neville became more and more settled, his nerves faded. Neville actually turned out to be a surprisingly good dancer. I was not. I trod on his feet more times than I care to admit, which embarrassed me to no end, but Neville just smiled and carried on.

"Change partners," McGonagall called. "Only couples are allowed to dance together for the entire night, everyone else must change partners."

I left Neville and was soon swept away by an overconfident fifth year.

"Wow, you're a pretty little thing," he said, giving what he probably thought was a dashing smile, but it really just looked predatory. He was kind of handsome I suppose, with short blond hair and deep blue eyes that looked like they had come from a hungry monster. I instantly disliked him. "How about you come with me to the dance? We would be the perfect couple."

"How about no?" I said smiling back at him.

"Why ever not? You're not seriously going with little Neville over there, he's pathetic." He glared at Neville.

"I am not, but I would rather go with him than you."

He glared at me. "The girls in my year would clamber over each other to have a chance with me, and you're turning me down?" He sounded like he could not believe he was hearing me right.

"Yeah, they can have you," I said as I kept hoping McGonagall would call for a change of partners already.

"You will come to the ball with me," he insisted.

"I already gave my answer." I replied calmly, but I was very close to hitting him.

"I know you're easy, everyone does, Skeeter said so, so why won't you come with me? Is it because I'm not a champion?"

I slapped him, not hard enough to do any damage, but enough to hurt and leave a mark. "You wonder why I said no?" I shouted. Everyone was staring now, but I did not care. "With a personality like yours you'll be lucky to get a skunk to go with you!"

I pulled my hand from his and stormed off.

"Miss Harker, return to the dance," McGonagall called.

"My partner's an arse," I shouted.

"Language, Miss Harker," McGonagall replied levelly.

I gritted my teeth. "I will only return if I can have a different partner, one who is less of an absolute arse."

McGonagall sighed. "Very well, change partners!"

The rest of the practice I had partners who were less pushy than the annoying fifth year, but still all of them, without fail asked me to the ball. I politely turned them all down. None of them mentioned anything about the article though. The fifth year got slapped three more times and in the end was removed by McGonagall and had to sit out while she lectured him about no meaning no.

* * *

"That was fun," Alice said when we eventually returned to our dorm, exhausted but happy from the dancing. "I got asked to the dance by two guys. I felt kind of bad rejecting them."

"We're going together, right?" I asked. "Because I hurt a lot of guys' feelings today."

"Of course we are, it's the perfect place to let everyone know that we're a couple. I hope there's mistletoe," she said with an impish grin.

I kissed her. "It doesn't matter either way,"

She giggled and kissed me back. "I suppose not."

I left a line of kisses down her neck, causing her to giggle again. I liked her giggle, it was almost musical in her happiness, it was contagious and I had to giggle back.

"I love you so much Janet," Alice said kissing me again. "You're so beautiful, you're absolutely perfect."

There was the sound of footsteps outside, the door opened and Hermione looked in, she saw us and promptly blushed, as did Alice and I. "Eep! I'm sorry, I didn't know you two were, erm, busy. I'll leave you to it." She quickly closed the door and the sound of hurried footsteps went in the opposite direction.

"Well, that's one way to kill the mood," I said. I was still blushing, prompting Alice to giggle.

"It would have been nice of her to knock," she noted as she kissed me on my blushing cheeks.

"Yeah," I said absently.

Alice sighed. "The moment has passed hasn't it?" I nodded, she pouted in response. "Shame."

I kissed her on the lips. "It was a nice moment while it lasted."

"Yeah, it was," Alice said with a sigh.

* * *

The next day, Alice and I joined Ron and Harry in the Common Room where they were staring after a group of girls. Mrs O'Leary was lying on her back in front of the fire with her paws pointed at the ceiling. She was twitching and making little noises in her sleep, much to the amusement of a group of nearby first years.

Harry sighed. "Why do they always have to travel in packs? How are you supposed to get one alone to ask them…"

"Blimey Harry, you fought a Dragon," Ron said. "If you can't get a date, who can?"

"I think I'd take the Dragon right now," Harry muttered. "Morning," he said when he noticed Alice and me.

"You could just go up and ask to talk to the girl alone. The worst that will happen is that she'll reject you," I said, trying to sound cheerful. "And Ron, ask Hermione for goodness sake, you two have been dancing around each other's feelings pretty much since I've known you two."

"That's easy for you to say," Ron muttered, "I bet you've had dozens of offers by now."

"Six or seven," I said with a shrug.

"John asked Luna by the way," Harry said trying to change the topic. "She said yes, and Neville is going with Lavender."

"See you two, it's not too hard if even Neville can get up the nerve to ask her to go with him," Alice said as she looked out the window.

"Neville ask Lavender?" Harry asked with a snort. "Hardly. She came over to him and told him he was going with her, although, he didn't look too sad about it."

"Now, are you two going to ask anyone or what?" I looked over to the corner of the room where Ginny was sitting, staring at Harry in admiration. Her friends were talking to her, but she seemed totally enamoured as she stared at Harry.

"Harry, you have an admirer," Alice said, noticing Ginny as well.

"Who?" Harry turned; Ginny blushed and quickly averted her gaze.

"Bloody hell, you are not going with my sister," Ron said through gritted teeth, "or I'll finish what You-Know-Who could not."

"I wasn't going to!"

Ron glared at him a moment longer, but eventually nodded.

"At this rate we'll be the only people without partners," Ron complained during homework time, which is when everyone sits in the Great Hall and does supervised homework. Ron's comments earned them both a whack on the back of the head with a ruler from Snape as he walked passed.

"Well, Hermione, you're a girl," Ron said turning to Hermione in the most awkward start to a conversation ever.

"Oh well spotted," Hermione said through gritted teeth.

"Come on," Ron pleaded, "it's one thing for a bloke to show up alone, for a girl it's just sad."

"Hooray for double standards," I muttered.

Hermione stood up. "I won't be going alone because believe it or not someone's asked me, and I said yes."

"Bloody hell," was all Ron could say as Hermione stormed off.

"Ron," I said, "it may interest you to know that during the last History of Magic lecture, in order to not fall asleep, I worked out that there are currently an exactly equal number of boys and girls at Hogwarts in the third year and later. After the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students are taken into account of course."

"So, there is definitely enough dates for everyone to have a partner," he said, brightening up.

"Except you missed something," I said.

"What?"

I pointed at myself and Alice.

Ron's face fell. "Oh no! If you two are the only same sex couple, there'll be two guys without dates. Oh no." He turned to Harry. "It could be us, Harry. Look, we've just got to grit our teeth and do it. Tonight when we get back to the common room, we'll both have partners. Agreed?"

"Agreed," Harry said, his voice shaking. "I can always ask Ginny." Ron glared at Harry, but I answered before Ron could say anything.

I shook my head. "She's already going with Cyrus."

"Cyrus?" Ron asked, his eyes narrowing.

"Shortish, black haired, Asian, joined last year from the Mahoutokoro academy? Ringing any bells?" I asked.

Ron nodded."I'll have to have a word with him," he said ominously.


	19. Chapter 19

I spent the next few weeks rejecting boys. It was not fun, especially during McGonagall's compulsory dance lessons on Saturdays. Eventually guys got the hint, although I did hear quite few people calling me frigid and far worse names, which was rather unpleasant, but I grinned and bore it (and planned what animals to turn them into). When the night came, Alice and I were preparing in our room, hampered very much by the ever-playful Mrs O'Leary, when Ginny came in and took Alice away before she had put on her dress.

Half an hour later Ginny came for me as well. "Janet, you are not going out like that, come on." She led me to her room. Hermione was already there, not yet wearing her dress. "Janet, sit there and wait." She pointed at a chair in front of a dressing table.

Ginny and (much to my surprise) Hermione set to work styling my hair and applying makeup, occasionally stopping to consult a muggle magazine before starting continuing again. "Finished," Ginny said proudly

I looked at myself in the mirror, my hair was beautiful, carefully braided and arranged to frame my face. The makeup that Ginny had put on me was subtle and tasteful. It did not make me look like someone else trying to be me. I looked like me, just more so, if that makes sense.

"Now, go to the Ball and show off," Ginny ordered. "Alice is waiting for you. I have to get Hermione ready for her grand entrance."

I walked down to the Ball. When I entered the main entrance hall I saw Ron and Harry at the bottom of the stairs. Harry looked rather uncomfortable in his suit. Ron looked even worse in his antique dress robes, which still had some jagged traces of the lace that had been hacked away with a penknife (rather than the more sensible option of unpicking the stitches). He looked like he would rather be facing a Basilisk armed only with a toothpick and a rectal thermometer. They were talking quietly, but stopped when they heard me walk down that stairs. I had forgone the traditional high-heeled shoes, despite needing the extra height, mainly because I was sure I was going to break something if I wore them.

"Bloody hell," Ron said when he turned to face me, "Janet, you look smashing."

"Thanks, I think," I said smiling at what I interpreted as a compliment. "I'm hoping not to smash anything tonight, that would not be a good way to celebrate Christmas."

"You look beautiful," Harry said.

"Are you saying I don't always look beautiful?" I asked, doing my best to sound hurt and pouting, careful not to smear any makeup.

Harry blushed. "No no no," he said quickly, waving his hands in panic, "I meant you look even more beautiful than usual."

I giggled. "I knew what you meant; I was just messing with you. Thanks, Harry."

"Alice is over there," Ron said, pointing at a group of girls who were talking quietly in the corner. I nodded my thanks and went to find her.

I found Alice talking to the Patil twins, who were dressed in traditional Indian saris.

"My Janet, you look wonderful. Some guy was very lucky to have managed to ask you," Padma said.

"Who is the lucky guy?" Parvati asked. "There has been a lot of speculation about it. At first I thought it was John, but Pansy told me he was coming with Luna."

"Who said I had a guy?" I asked with a knowing smile at Alice.

Padma rolled her eyes, "because you're you, everyone knows that nearly the entirety of our year, and some of the year above asked you out."

"And I rejected all of them," I said teasingly.

"One guy claimed it was Neville, until Lavender rather publicly told him he was going with her," Padma said ignoring my comment

Parvati nodded. "I heard Krum's name mentioned a lot, then Skeeter's article came out. I don't believe a word that woman writes, it is all so ludicrous. It sounds like a story that has passed through many people before it reached you. I bet her source is someone like Draco."

"But it did raise the possibility that you were going with him," Padma finished.

"I'm not with Krum," I said, having to hold back a laugh. "He's a nice enough guy, I guess, but he's not my type. Besides, I think he has his eye on someone else."

"Oh, who?" Parvati asked.

"You'll see soon enough," I replied. "If I tell you it would ruin the surprise."

"I suppose," Parvati agreed reluctantly. "Do you know who Hermione coming with? Everyone knows she has a partner, but she wouldn't tell anyone who."

I shrugged, smothering a grin. "I can guess, but she hasn't told me who it is."

"We should join our dates," Padma said.

"I suppose you're right. See you two later," Parvati said as they wove their way through the crowd.

" _When_ _do we reveal to everyone?_ " Alice asked.

" _I think we simply dance together,"_ I replied. _"_ _T_ _hat should get the message across, especially if we kiss under the mistletoe, if there's mistletoe, or just somewhere sort of public if there's not._ "

" _I'm scared, Janet,_ " Alice said nervously.

I put my hand on her arm. " _D_ _on't be, I'm here, everything will be alright, at the very least we will be able to stop hiding one secret_."

Alice smiled weakly at me.

I heard a ripple of shock go through the room. I turned to see Hermione in a beautiful violet gown descend the stairs. Ginny had outdone herself. For the first time since I had known her, Hermione's hair was tamed with just the right amount of curl, she was wearing a bit of makeup, but not too much. She looked beautiful. I could see Ron blushing, his mouth hanging open. Thankfully for him, his partner (I think it was Padma, the Patil twins, like the Weasley twins and Crabbe and Goyle are hard to tell apart at the best of times and across a crowded room it is impossible) was not looking at him. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, Viktor Krum took her hand.

"I'm not sure who Ron's going to be more jealous of, Hermione or Krum," I muttered. Alice covered her mouth as she tried to suppress a laugh.

"Please enter the Great Hall," McGonagall called, "the champions' dance is about to begin."

The four champions lined up at the door with their dates as the doors to the Great Hall were unlocked. We all followed the champions into the Hall, where the professors were waiting.

Whoever decorated the Great Hall for the dance had out done themselves (I assumed it was McGonagall, Flitwick, Filch and Hagrid, as they usually did the decorating for Christmas and other events). The room was decorated with white lace hanging from the wall and ribbons hanging from the ceiling. There were magnificent ice sculptures dotting the room and dozens of Christmas trees up the sides with on particularly massive Christmas tree at one end. The tables had been pushed to the side and were laden with a buffet of beautiful and delicious looking food. As the band started the crowd parted to allow the champions space to have the first dance, Harry was so nervous that Parvati had to basically drag him through the dance.

When the champions had finished their dance it was everyone else's turn. As they had been trained, the guys turned to their partners, bowed, offered their hand and asked them to dance. With my heart thundering away in my throat I turned to Alice, bowed, offered my hand and asked her to dance. Alice took my head and we started to dance. It was a strange sort of dance to start with as neither of us knew who was leading, but in the end we decided that she was leading for this dance. We got more than a few strange looks as we danced. Some looked happy, whilst others looked downright disgusted, which meant that at least our message was getting across. Also, I'm fairly certain I saw coins change hands, so there had probably been a betting pool going on.

Eventually McGonagall took us aside. "What are you two doing? Where are your partners?" We pointed at each other. "Where are your partners?" she repeated.

"I'm sorry Professor, I was not told I wouldn't be allowed to dance with my girlfriend," Alice said with a grin, whilst I leaned my head on her shoulder.

McGonagall stared at us for a moment, at a loss for words. Apparently even McGonagall had not thought of the possibility of us being a couple. "I, see, I'm terribly sorry to interrupt you. Enjoy the rest of the evening."

She quickly walked off, her face red with embarrassment.

"Shall we continue where we left off?" I asked.

"Yeah, let's," Alice said as she offered her hand and I lead her back to the dancefloor.

We danced until the traditional band was replaced by a more modern band called the Weird Sisters. I had heard of them and decided very quickly that I did not like them. Alice seemed to agree as she grimaced at the noise. We quickly went to the other end of the Hall to get away from the ruckus they were making. I saw Harry, Ron and the Patils sitting on chairs, looking very awkward. It reminded me of the dance I had attended the year before at Westover Academy.

"Hey, look, mistletoe," Alice said as she pulled me over to a doorway which had a sprig of the aforementioned plant hanging from it.

Alice and I faced each other in the doorway. I gazed into her beautiful eyes set in her beautiful face and I kissed her, slowly and tenderly. Alice kissed me back. She put her hand on the back of my neck and I felt a chill run down my spine.

"How vile," a voice sneered. We were wrenched out of the moment by Draco standing next to us, flanked by his two goons.

"Bugger off Draco," Alice said through gritted teeth. He sure knew how to ruin a moment.

"No. I knew you two were pathetic, but I didn't know you were this unnatural. Homosexuals are disgusting and filthy, almost as bad as squibs," Draco said with a sneer.

"You've said your piece, now leave us alone," I said as levelly as possible.

"It looks like I've struck a nerve eh boys?" he commented to his goons, who guffawed uproariously.

"Go away Draco, I'm not in the mood for your level of stupidity today," I said. I was very close to losing my calm and throwing him out a window.

"What are you going to do about it?" Draco said.

"Well, just ask Pansy, except I probably wouldn't turn you back." I really wanted to hit him, but I held myself back.

Draco paled. "You wouldn't dare. My dad would have you in Azkaban within a day." His voice had gone up about half an octave.

"Try me," I said, smirking.

"Either way, what you two are doing is foul and unnatural," Draco shouted.

"Why are you friends with him?" I asked Crabbe and Goyle. They shrugged and grinned in a way that could only be described as knowingly (which was a strange look for them).

"Tsk tsk," a voice said. We turned to see Coeus of all beings walking over. He was dressed in a deep blue suit and his hair was actually combed and tamed for once. He did not look very impressed. "Do you gentlemen, and I use that term lightly, not know it is impolite to crowd two young women like this? And on Christmas Eve no less. Do you have no shame? No morals? No scruples?"

"Who the hell are you?" Draco asked angrily.

"I'm a friend of the Headmaster's, and you still haven't answered my questions. Or do I have to get a teacher over here? I'm sure Professor Moody would love to have to deal with this on Christmas Eve," Coeus said.

Draco paled and quickly walked off with a parting sneer. His goons glared at all three of us before leaving.

"Thanks," I said.

"No problem, enjoy the rest of your evening." Coeus turned and rejoined the party.

"That was, unpleasant," Alice said unhappily. "I hope he's not coming back."

"Oh, he will, but I will just turn him into a prairie dog," I said, smiling at her.

Alice smiled. "I bet he'd make a good prairie dog." She then kissed my cheek. "Let's go rejoin the party, it looks like drama is happening." She pointed at Hermione and Ron, who were arguing.

"Gods, do those two ever stop?" I asked as Hermione ran away from Ron, her face flushed with anger.

"Not that I've noticed," Alice said. "Come on."

She led me over to where Harry and Ron were sitting. They had long since lost their partners to the two guys who did not have partners. "Aren't you two the life of the party?" I said smiling at them.

"Go away, Janet," Ron muttered darkly.

"What's going on with him?" Alice asked Harry.

"He had an argument with Hermione about her fraternising with the enemy," Harry said, as if he could not believe how stupid Ron was.

"So, Ron's angry that he didn't ask out Hermione first and is taking it out on Hermione," Alice said, crossing her arms and frowning at Ron. "Good plan, that's sure to win her back."

"Wha-?" Ron squawked.

"Did I get that about right?" Alice asked Harry, who nodded in agreement.

"Oi, back me up here," Ron said angrily.

"Back you up on what? That you're a git who can't stand to see Hermione happy?" Harry asked.

"No, it's just, I, she's fraternising with the enemy!" he shouted.

"Ron, you're pathetic," I said, shaking my head.

"Oi," he said, frowning at me. His frown quickly turned into a look of realisation. "I should apologise." He got up and ran in the direction of Hermione.

"He really needs to grow up," Alice muttered, shaking her head.

"Yeah, maybe one day he'll actually talk to her rather than bicker with her like an old married couple," I replied.

"I just realised I'm a third wheel here. I'm going to get some punch," Harry said quickly before hurrying off.

I kissed my girlfriend. It was still strange to think of her like that, but she was my girlfriend. Alice kissed me back. I am not sure how much time passed as we sat there and made out, and I know I do not care. For just a moment I could forget about everything, the spy, Uncle Alistair's weird behaviour, Thanatos' warning, even Kronos rising and Drake's betrayal, because it was just me and Alice.

As with all good things, our kiss came to an end. "You're a great kisser," Alice giggled.

"You're not too bad yourself," I replied.

"I plan to get lots of practice," she said, kissing my neck.

"I hope it's with me," I said with a little giggle.

"Of course." Alice kissed me on the cheek.

"I love you," I said, my chest tight with joy.

"I know," Alice replied, kissing me again. "Gods, if you weren't my girlfriend I'd be so jealous of you."

"I'm jealous of your eyes," I said quietly.

"Why?" Alice asked.

"They're so strikingly colourful," I said as I curl a lock of her hair between my fingers. "Mine are just really dark brown."

"I like your eyes, they suit you. They're mysterious and kind, just like you." She kissed my cheek.

"Thanks," I said smiling at her.

"They also look like chocolate, and I happen to like chocolate." We shared a laugh.

"I think everyone likes chocolate," I nuzzled up to her, "it's like if happiness was made into a solid object."

"Moody's watching us," Alice whispered in my ear suddenly. I quickly glanced over at Uncle Alistair, who was sitting on a table. He was looking at us with distaste on his face. He took a quick swig from his hip flask and looked away.

Alice frowned. "I don't think he likes us being together."

"No, I told him before term started and he didn't particularly care as long as I'm happy. He just really hates parties," I said, smiling at her. The smile was hollow. While that was true, his distaste was more focused than just at the party. There was no mistaking it, he disapproved of us, but only a few months earlier he was supportive. I sighed mentally. This was just another weirdness to add to the ever-growing list of things that did not quite add up about Uncle Alistair lately. "Or maybe he's just disapproving of us not taking part in that." I pointed at the crush of bodies at the end of the Hall.

"Either way, it doesn't matter," Alice said, smiling at me, "it's not his life to live."

"I suppose you're right," I said, kissing her cheek.

Just then the Weird Sisters finished their last song and people started drifting away to other parts of the room, a few giving us disapproving glances. The original band returned to the stage and started playing again.

"I think people have worked out that we're a couple," I said quietly.

"I should hope so, we've spent most of the evening kissing," Alice said as she kissed me again. "I need a drink, want me to get you something?"

"An apple juice would be nice."

She nodded, smiled, got up, and stretched. "Don't go anywhere, I'll be back." She disappeared into the crowd.

Coeus sat down next to me. " _T_ _hought I'd use this break between you and your girlfriend kissing to catch up_." I blushed. " _I don't disapprove, sexual fluidity was a lot more common in Greece during our time. The Gods themselves were known to, um, spend the night with members of the same gender on a regular basis. Apollo, as always, got around most on that front. The view of homosexuals being taboo and unsavoury came later, much, much later. I think it was late Roman if my memory serves. So anyway, how are you doing since I last saw you?_ "

" _Good, I'll be taking several of my exams this year in August_ _."_ I frowned. _"_ _I think it was August. I need to check on that one_."

" _I knew you could do it_. _I see you finally asked your friend over there out_." He smiled as I blushed again. " _I will admit that Cupid and I had a bet going on when you two would finally become couple._ "

I turned to him, not believing what he had said. " _Y_ _ou had a bet going on my love life? That's, kind of disturbing._ "

Coeus grinned. _"I won, by the way._ _H_ _e said two more years, I said by the end of the year. I was right_."

 _"Isn't he the God of Love? How did he get it wrong?"_ I asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

 _"He just makes you fall in love, not make you act on it,"_ he replied with a grin.

" _How did you get through the wards? Thanatos told me how difficult it was for Gods and Titans to get in._ " I said as I recalled Thanatos saying his visit required a lot of effort.

" _Oh, I was invited, I said I was an old friend of the Headmaster and I am. I just let him believe I'm an adept to explain why I haven't aged in the near century he's known me._ " He chuckled to himself.

"Hello again, Coeus," Alice said as she returned with a glass of orange juice for herself and apple juice for me.

Coeus checked his watch. "Oh look at the time, I must collect Phoebe from Nut's Christmas party. See you two at the family reunion in the summer, it's going to be... memorable."

"See you," I said as he got up and re-entered the crowd.

"Was it something I said?" Alice asked as she sat down.

"No, Coeus just probably doesn't want to third wheel."

She smiled and sat down. "One of the Durmstrang students tried to chat me up," she said. "I felt rather proud for a moment, before I had to turn him down on his offer to dance."

"Would you like to dance again?" I asked.

"No thanks, my feet are already killing me," she said as she slipped off her shoes, "and I'm not even wearing heels."

"That was a smart decision," I said.

"Yes, I don't get how people dance in those things. They're like a torture device. You can't run in them, you can't fight and you definitely can't ride a horse."

I burst out laughing. "Chiron has taught you well if those are your first thoughts when choosing clothing."

Alice smiled. "Also I knew you weren't going to be wearing any, and I didn't want to be any taller than you than I am now, so, that put the final nail firmly in the coffin for high heels."

"It seems like a good idea, unlike the high heels themselves. They seem to be designed to make their wearers damsels in distress if anything happens," I said as the band switched to a lively, jolly Christmas song.

"This is going so much better than the last Christmas party we attended." She said with a chuckle. "So far I've not got stuck in a bush, you've not been attacked by a crazy Quebecois or a demon witch, it's all been normal and human, except Coeus, and he's on his most normal behaviour."

"Westover was weird. Do you remember the names of the teachers?" I asked as I reminisced about how I almost was killed.

"Yeah, wasn't it like Gotchalk and Fearnow?" Alice said. "One was the most teacher like name possible and the other should have sent up warning flags with everyone."

"I bet that was Tala's false name," I said with a smile as the band played the final chord of the song and McGonagall got on the stage.

"Thank you for attending tonight's ball," McGonagall announced over the sudden talking in the room. "I would hope that you've had a lot of fun tonight, I know that most of the staff has. I'm afraid that, as with most of life's joys, the time has come for the ball to end. Christmas Day started about two hours ago, and I would hope you would want to go to bed by now, so, from all of the staff of all three schools, goodnight and Merry Christmas."

A chorus of goodnight and Merry Christmas broke out from the crowd.

"Well, let's go," I said as I led Alice out of the Hall.

* * *

On the way back to the Common Room, Parvati and Padma caught up with us. "I heard that you two were seen kissing," Padma said.

"Does that mean you're a couple, or was it a spur of the moment thing?" Parvati asked.

"We've been a couple since August," Alice replied. "We just decided the Ball was the perfect place to go public."

"Oh, I never had you two pegged as lesbians," Padma said.

Parvati nodded. "Yes, we thought that Lavender was more likely."

"Although, after she kissed Neville so much tonight I have no doubt left in my mind."

"When was that?" Alice asked.

"When wasn't it is more like it," Parvati replied with a giggled.

"Poor Neville looked terrified the first time she kissed him, but he soon was enjoying himself."

"I think they are going to make such a cute couple," Parvati said smiling.

"Although you two are cuter," Padma said glaring at her twin.

"Yes, two of the prettiest girls in the class, such a cute couple."

"I'm not one of the prettiest-" Alice started, but Parvati interrupted her.

"Yes, you are, you are very pretty," she corrected her.

"She's right," I said softly, "you're beautiful."

"Aw," the twins said in sync, "so cute!" They then almost collapsed when they both started giggling.

"Your evening went much better than ours," Padma said, glaring at Ron's back through the crowd.

"I did see that your partners were not very, um, attentive," I said, trying to be diplomatic.

"No need to sugarcoat it," Parvati said angrily.

"Our partners were arseholes, Harry was too nervous to dance and Ron spent the whole evening we were with them staring at Hermione." Padma looked so angry I felt I should go and warn Ron, and I would have if I did not agree with her so much.

"After we left them, we danced with some very nice Durmstrang boys," Parvati said with a wide grin.

"Parvati spent most of the evening playing tonsil tennis with her second date," Padma said, which caused her sister to blush.

"I have never heard the term tonsil tennis before," I said, which caused Padma to laugh.

"It means snogging," she replied.

"I guessed that," I said, "I just never heard the term before."

"It's more poetic than just saying snogging," Alice said. "I hate the word snogging, it's an ugly word."

"You didn't seem to mind earlier," I said, causing us both to blush and the twins to both burst out into uncontrollable giggles.

"No, I like snogging, I just don't like the word." She blushed more, so much so that I half expected steam to start rising from her ears like she'd had a Pepper-up potion.

"I know what you mean," I said as I patted her on the shoulder, "the opportunity was just too good to miss."

"Yeah, I did walk into it a bit." She smiled.

Padma giggled, "you two are too cute."

We both blushed at that, causing Padma to giggle even more. Alice decided that was the perfect moment to kiss me on the cheek, which made me blush more.

"See you tomorrow sis," Parvati said as she hugged her sister and left to go to the Ravenclaw tower.


	20. Chapter 20

During the Ball it had snowed, meaning we were in for a white Christmas, which made Alice really excited. "Janet!" She shouted as she woke me up the next morning at about eleven, "it's snowed, it's a white Christmas!"

I groaned and sat up. "Calm down, Alice," I said as I yawned and stretched. "It's just snow."

"But it's snow on Christmas," she whined, "like with Dickens. Oh, it's beautiful."

"We had a white Christmas last year," I said as I got out of bed, confused by Alice's excitement.

"Yeah, but nothing in our immediate vicinity is trying to kill us. Come on, you've got presents to open." She scampered excitedly out of the room.

"Joy," I muttered as I got dressed.

* * *

The Common Room was abuzz with activity as people exchanged gifts and opened presents from under the tree. "Morning sleepyhead," Ron said. He had already opened his present and was wearing a maroon jumper with a letter R on it, the kind his mum gave him every year.

"I have mentioned in the past how little I care about Christmas, right?" I asked as I sat down on the arm of a chair.

"But, you've got presents," Alice said insistently as she handed me four presents. One was obviously clothing, it was medium sized and squishy. The others were harder to guess. One was a box about ten centimetres squared and about five centimetres tall, another was about the size of a book and the final one was another squishy parcel with something hard inside.

I chose to open the medium sized squishy parcel first. It was from Mrs Weasley and the rest of the Weasleys, inside was a dark purple jumper with a J on the front in dark blue.

"Ron, can you pass on my thanks to your Mum?" I asked as I put the jumper on. It fit perfectly.

"Yeah, sure," Ron said, blinking in surprise before returning to his conversation with Harry.

The second parcel I chose was the one that was about the size of a book. It was from Coeus and inside (surprise, surprise) was a book in Greek. "Pliny's Guide to Terrifying Monsters and How to Kill Them," I read to the others.

Alice chuckled. "I don't think you need much help with that," she said, kissing my cheek, which caused me to blush.

The next present was the other squishy one, it was from Uncle Alistair, it had a tag that said, 'This may be useful with your new dog'. I opened the present. Inside was a dog blanket wrapped around a brown leather dog coat for Mrs O'Leary (who was being fussed over by a bunch of first years) as well as a lead, dog whistle, a spare collar, a bag of dog treats, a comb and brush set and a squeaky snowman. I did a check for curses and hostile enchantments (not that I thought it necessary with Uncle Alistair, but he would be horrified if I had not checked).

"Mrs O'Leary, here girl," I called. She yapped and ran across the room. I handed her the squeaky snowman, she bit it and it squeaked, she looked rather surprised and she started playing with it, spinning around and wagging her tail.

"I think she likes it," I said as she trampled a game of Monopoly, annoying some third years.

"Yep," Alice said, "it does seem that way, or she really hates it and is trying to destroy it." She giggled but stopped suddenly when I picked up the last present. It was from her.

I carefully peeled off the wrapping paper. Inside was a hinged blue box. I opened it and saw that inside it was a necklace that was bronze with a red heart pendant. I looked at Alice. "Thank you," I said as I clutched the box close to me.

"Well put it on," she said, smiling at me. I carefully undid the tiny clasped and put it on.

"It looks beautiful on you, although, everything looks beautiful on you. I made it myself during arts and crafts. I admit I had a little help from Beckendorf with the chain, but not that much."

"I got you a present, almost forgot it." I ran back to our room and picked up the present from where I had left it in the drawer of my bedside table. I returned to the Common Room and handed it to her. She tore off the paper. Inside was a similar box to the one she gave me, except mine was green. Inside the box was also a necklace.

"Great minds think alike it seems," Alice said smiling at me as she took the necklace out of the box and looked at it. It had a piece of coloured glass as the pendant, or rather, a piece of multi-coloured glass. It had a full rainbow carefully layered in the glass.

"I saw it and it reminded me of your eyes," I said quietly as my girlfriend stared at the necklace.

"It's beautiful," she whispered as she undid the clasp and put it on.

"It looks perfect on you," I said. She leaned over and kissed me on the lips, much to the annoyance of Ron and Harry next to us, who I heard get up and leave. I did not care what others thought; I was too deeply lost in the kiss.

"Get a room!" someone shouted from across the room, which caused everyone to laugh, but we ignored them, deepening our kiss.

"I meant a different room!" he shouted again, causing less laughter than the first time. We finally parted, both breathing heavily and blushing.

Although I did not celebrate Christmas after first year, I had decided it would be improper not to reciprocate gift giving. Harry gave me a book about Hieroglyphs (picked out by Sirius). I gave him a copy of my favourite book about magical history (so he had a better source than Binns). Ron was included in his family gift of a jumper. I gave a gift back of some muggle assorted miscellaneous items for his father to tinker with and a box of muggle jelly beans for Ron (who seemed to be disappointed by the lack of every flavour). John sent me a book about tactics. I gave him a replica of Napoleon's hat with enchantments to induce calmness on the wearer (Napoleon being his half-brother). I gave Uncle Alistair a sneakoscope, to warn him until his giant one was fixed (which was taking an awfully long time I noted). It started pinging immediately, but he declared that he had seen Peeves skulking about and would soon bring the poltergeist in line. Chiron sent a couple of records of his favourite artists (I think he did that to annoy me), I had also sent him a joke present in response, a jumper which read 'I believe in Santaur' and had a picture of a centaur that was half reindeer half Santa. Annabeth sent me a book about the architecture of France. I sent her a book about the overlap between muggle history and wizards. Percy forgot, but I sent him a book about magical marine animals. The Stolls sent a present, but I did not trust it. It remains unopened to this day.

* * *

The novelty of a white Christmas quickly wore off when the snow did not lighten up until after Christmas break ended. Although that did not mean the weather got nicer. In fact, the weather only got colder and wetter. Nobody was looking forward to Care of Magical Creatures in this weather. I had left Mrs O'Leary to her own devices with the squeaky snowman while were out seeing as she had a tendency of scaring the creatures. The weather promised that we would be freezing and soaked to the bone, though as Ron said, the Skrewts would probably warm us up nicely, either by chasing us, or blasting off so forcefully that Hagrid's cabin would catch fire.

When we arrived at Hagrid's cabin, however, we found an elderly witch with short grey hair and a very prominent chin standing before his front door. Alice and I were not cold, unlike the other people who were there because I had made a bubble of warmth around us.

"Hurry up, now, the bell rang five minutes ago," she barked at us as we struggled toward her through the snow.

"Who're you?" Ron said, staring at her.

"Where's Hagrid?" Alice asked.

"My name is Professor Grubbly-Plank," she said briskly. "I am your temporary Care of Magical Creatures teacher."

"Where's Hagrid?" Harry repeated loudly.

"He is indisposed," Professor Grubbly-Plank said shortly, glaring at Harry.

I heard the sound of soft and unpleasant laughter. It was coming from Malfoy and the rest of the Slytherins. They all looked gleeful and none of them looked surprised to see Professor Grubbly-Plank. I had a bad feeling that Malfoy and his gang of snakes had something to do with Hagrid's absence. I could only hope Hagrid wasn't hurt.

"This way, please," Professor Grubbly-Plank said, and she strode off around a cairn. The class followed her. Some of us looked back over our shoulders at Hagrid's cabin. All of the curtains were closed.

'Is Hagrid in there, alone and ill?' I wondered to myself as the cabin faded from view.

"What's wrong with Hagrid?" I asked, hurrying to catch up with Professor Grubbly-Plank.

"Never you mind," she said, as though she thought I was being nosy.

"We do mind, though," Harry said hotly. "What's up with him?"

Professor Grubbly-Plank acted as though she could not hear us. She led us past the paddock where the huge Beauxbatons Abraxans were standing, huddled against the cold, their fancy Beauxbatons coats doing nothing against the cold. She led us towards a tree on the edge of the forest, where a large and beautiful unicorn was tethered.

Alice and I rolled our eyes as many of the girls ooooohed and ahhhhhed at the sight of the unicorn. "Oh it's so beautiful!" Lavender whispered. "How did she get it? They're supposed to be really hard to catch!"

The unicorn's white coat was so white and pure that it made the snow look grey. It was pawing at the ground nervously with its golden hooves and throwing back its horned head. Unicorns are beautiful and majestic until, as we found out in Idaho, you steal one's box of Lucky Charms. Then they are terrifying.

"Boys keep back!" Professor Grubbly-Plank barked, throwing out an arm out and catching Harry hard in the chest. "They prefer the woman's touch, unicorns. Girls to the front, and approach with care, come on, easy does it..."

"C'mon, Janet," Hermione said, joining the line that was hesitantly walking over to the unicorn. Alice rolled her eyes and strode over to the poor thing, ignoring Professor Grubbly-Plank's shouted warnings.

"I'll meet you there." I went over to Ron and Harry.

"Shouldn't you be with the other girls?" Ron asked.

I ignored him and said, "What do you reckon's wrong with Hagrid? Do you think maybe one of the Skrewts..."

"Oh he hasn't been attacked, Harker, if that's what you're thinking," Malfoy said softly. "No, he's just too ashamed to show his big, ugly face."

"I think you should be the one worrying about their face," I retorted, bunching my fists.

"What do you mean, Malfoy?" Harry said sharply.

Malfoy put his hand inside the pocket of his robes and pulled out a folded page of newsprint. "There you go," he said. "Hate to break it to you, Potter..."

He smirked as Harry snatched the page, unfolded it, and read it, with Neville, Ron, Seamus, Dean, and I looking over his shoulder. It was an article topped with a poor drawing of Hagrid looking extremely shifty.

* * *

DUMBLEDORE'S GIANT MISTAKE

Albus Dumbledore, eccentric headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, has never been afraid to make controversial staff appointments, writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. In September of this year, he hired Alastair "Mad-Eye" Moody, the notoriously jinx-happy ex-Auror, to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts. The decision caused many raised eyebrows at the Ministry of Magic, given Moody's well-known habit of attacking anybody who makes a sudden movement in his presence. Mad-Eye Moody, however, looks responsible and kindly when set beside the part-human Dumbledore employs to teach Care of Magical Creatures.  
Rubeus Hagrid, who admits to being expelled from Hogwarts in his third year, has enjoyed the position of gamekeeper at the school ever since, a job secured for him by Dumbledore. Last year, however, Hagrid used his mysterious influence over the headmaster to secure the additional post of Care of Magical Creatures teacher, over the heads of many better-qualified candidates.

An alarmingly large and ferocious-looking man, Hagrid has been using his newfound authority to terrify the students in his care with a succession of horrific creatures. While Dumbledore turns a blind eye, Hagrid has maimed several pupils during a series of lessons that many admit to being "very frightening".

"I was attacked by a hippogriff, and my friend Vincent Crabbe got a bad bite off a flobberworm," says Draco Malfoy, a fourth-year student. "We all hate Hagrid, but we're just too scared to say anything."

Hagrid has no intention of ceasing his campaign of intimidation, however. In conversation with a Daily Prophet reporter last month, he admitted breeding creatures he has dubbed "Blast-Ended Skrewts," highly dangerous crosses between Miniature German Manticores and fire-crabs. The creation of new breeds of magical creature is, of course, an activity usually closely observed by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Hagrid, however, considers himself to be above such petty restrictions.

"I was just having some fun," he says, before hastily changing the subject.

As if this were not enough, the Daily Prophet has now unearthed evidence that Hagrid is not, as he has always pretended, a pure-blood wizard. He is not, in fact, even pure human. His mother, we can exclusively reveal, is none other than the giantess Fridwulfa, whose whereabouts are currently unknown.

Bloodthirsty and brutal, the giants brought themselves to the point of extinction by warring amongst themselves during the last century. The handful that remained joined the ranks of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and were responsible for some of the worst mass Muggle killings of his reign of terror.

While many of the giants who served He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named were killed by Aurors working against the Dark Side, Fridwulfa was not among them. It is possible she escaped to one of the giant communities still existing in foreign mountain ranges. If his antics during Care of Magical Creatures lessons are any guide, however, Fridwulfa's son appears to have inherited her brutal nature.

In a bizarre twist, Hagrid is reputed to have developed a close friendship with the boy who brought around You-Know-Who's fall from power, thereby driving Hagrid's own mother, like the rest of You-Know-Who's supporters, into hiding. Perhaps Harry Potter is unaware of the unpleasant truth about his large friend. But, Albus Dumbledore surely has a duty to ensure that Harry Potter, along with his fellow students, is warned about the dangers of associating with part-giants.

* * *

I finished reading the article and looked up at Ron and Harry. Ron's mouth was hanging open. "Who knew Hagrid was a half-giant?" Ron asked as the rest of the article sank in.

"I had guessed he was," I said. "It did stand to reason, given his height, that he was half-giant."

"I did," Harry said sadly. "He told me. We were alone, unless you count the beetle on the reindeer statue. How did Skeeter find out?"

"What d'you mean, we all hate Hagrid?" Ron spat at Malfoy. "What's this rubbish about him," he jabbed furiously at Crabbe, "getting a bad bite off a flobberworm? They haven't even got teeth!"

Crabbe was sniggering, apparently very pleased with himself.

"Well, I think this should put an end to the oaf's teaching career," Malfoy said, his eyes glinting. "Half-giant, and there was me thinking he'd just swallowed a bottle of Skele-Gro when he was young. None of the mummies and daddies are going to like this at all… They'll be worried he'll eat their kids, ha, ha… Soon there'll be one less half-breed at this school"

My blood was boiling at that point (figuratively of course). Ron and Harry both glared at Malfoy, Harry took out his wand and pointed it at Malfoy. "You—!"

"Girl!" Professor Grubbly-Plank yelled at me. "You're supposed to be over here, not with the boys! Get over here!"

I looked at Harry. "Don't do it, Harry. Malfoy's not worth it."

"Girl!" Professor Grubbly-Plank yelled again. I sent Harry a warning look and then glared at Malfoy before running over to where the other girls were.

* * *

"I hope she stays, that woman!" Padma said when the lesson ended and we were all heading back to the castle for lunch. "That's more what I thought Care of Magical Creatures would be like. Proper creatures like unicorns, not monsters."

"We have to study both kinds of creatures," I said, "otherwise if we come face to face with one of those monsters knowing anything about them we could end up dead."

"And what about Hagrid?" Ron said angrily as we went up the steps.

"What about him?" Padma said in a hard voice. "He can still be gamekeeper, can't he?" Padma stalked off with Lavender into the Great Hall.

"I think Padma is still a bit peeved with you about the Ball," Alice said. "Maybe if you hadn't of been such a grumpy Goblin she wouldn't have been so cold."

Ron shrugged. "I suppose I should've paid a bit more attention to her. But I heard she's been telling everyone she's going with a boy from Durmstrang to Hogsmeade the next weekend trip."  
"That was a really good lesson," Hermione said as we entered the Great Hall. "I didn't know half the things Professor Grubbly-Plank told us about uni—"

"Look at this!" Harry snarled, and he shoved the Daily Prophet article under Hermione's nose. Hermione's mouth fell open as she read. Her reaction was exactly the same as Ron's.

"How did that horrible Skeeter woman find out? You don't think Hagrid told her?"

"No," Harry said, leading the way over to the Gryffindor table and throwing himself onto the bench, furious. "He only ever told me. I reckon she was so mad he wouldn't give her loads of horrible stuff about us, she went ferreting around to get him back."

"Maybe she heard him telling Madame Maxime at the ball," Hermione said quietly. "I know they spent a lot of time in the gardens together, he might have told Maxime and Skeeter overheard."

"That's possible," Alice agreed, "Skeeter'll snoop around for any sort of headline."

"She'd have been seen in the garden!" Ron said. "Anyway, she's not supposed to come into school anymore, Hagrid said Dumbledore banned her..."

"Maybe she's got an invisibility cloak," Harry said, ladling chicken casserole onto his plate and splashing it everywhere in his anger. "Sort of thing she'd do, isn't it? Hide in bushes listening to people."

"Like you do?" I asked.

"We've got to go and see him," Harry said ignoring me, "this evening, after Divination, tell him we want him back… you do want him back?" He shot a look at Hermione.

"I, well, I'm not going to pretend it didn't make a nice change, having a proper Care of Magical Creatures lesson for once, but I do want Hagrid back, of course I do!" Hermione added hastily, quailing under Harry's furious stare.

So that evening after dinner, we found John and the six of us left the castle, Mrs O'Leary trotting along happily, and went down through the frozen grounds to Hagrid's cabin. Harry knocked and Fang's booming barks answered.

"Hagrid, it's us!" Harry shouted, pounding on the door. "Open up!"

Hagrid did not answer. We could hear Fang scratching at the door, whining, but it did not open. We hammered on it for ten more minutes. Ron even went and banged on one of the windows, but there was no response.

"Hagrid, please, we just want to talk," I said in my sweetest voice.

"I think he's avoiding us," Harry said darkly.

"What's he avoiding us for?" Hermione asked. "He surely doesn't think we'd care about him being half-giant?"

"Maybe we just give him time," John suggested. "I know that if someone found out a dark family secret, I'd want time and space to recover."

"He's not opening up," Hermione said after we waited for another ten minutes. "Let's go back to the castle."

We did not see a sign of him all week. He didn't appear at the staff table at mealtimes, we didn't see him going about him gamekeeper duties on the grounds. Professor Grubbly-Plank continued to take the Care of Magical Creatures classes. Malfoy was gloating at every possible opportunity.

"Missing your other half-breed pal?" he kept whispering to Harry or me whenever there was a teacher around, so that he was safe from our retaliation.

"Missing the elephant-man?" I got my revenge by resurrecting the chair gag where I kept moving Draco's seat out the way whenever he sat down.


	21. Chapter 21

During the Ball it had snowed, meaning we were in for a white Christmas, which made Alice really excited. "Janet!" She shouted as she woke me up the next morning at about eleven, "it's snowed, it's a white Christmas!"

I groaned and sat up. "Calm down, Alice," I said as I yawned and stretched. "It's just snow."

"But it's snow on Christmas," she whined, "like with Dickens. Oh, it's beautiful."

"We had a white Christmas last year," I said as I got out of bed, confused by Alice's excitement.

"Yeah, but nothing in our immediate vicinity is trying to kill us. Come on, you've got presents to open." She scampered excitedly out of the room.

"Joy," I muttered as I got dressed.

The Common Room was abuzz with activity as people exchanged gifts and opened presents from under the tree. "Morning sleepyhead," Ron said. He had already opened his present and was wearing a maroon jumper with a letter R on it, the kind his mum gave him every year.

"I have mentioned in the past how little I care about Christmas, right?" I asked as I sat down on the arm of a chair.

"But, you've got presents," Alice said insistently as she handed me four presents. One was obviously clothing, it was medium sized and squishy. The others were harder to guess. One was a box about ten centimetres squared and about five centimetres tall, another was about the size of a book and the final one was another squishy parcel with something hard inside.

I chose to open the medium sized squishy parcel first. It was from Mrs Weasley and the rest of the Weasleys, inside was a dark purple jumper with a J on the front in dark blue.

"Ron, can you pass on my thanks to your Mum?" I asked as I put the jumper on. It fit perfectly.

"Yeah, sure," Ron said, blinking in surprise before returning to his conversation with Harry.

The second parcel I chose was the one that was about the size of a book. It was from Coeus and inside (surprise, surprise) was a book in Greek. "Pliny's Guide to Terrifying Monsters and How to Kill Them," I read to the others.

Alice chuckled."I don't think you need much help with that," she said, which caused me to blush.

The next present was the other squishy one, it was from Uncle Alistair, it had a tag that said, 'This may be useful with your new dog'. I opened the present. Inside was a dog blanket wrapped around a brown leather dog coat for Mrs O'Leary (who was being fussed over by a bunch of first years) as well as a lead, dog whistle, a spare collar, a bag of dog treats, a comb and brush set and a squeaky snowman. I did a check for curses and hostile enchantments (not that I thought it necessary with Uncle Alistair, but he would be horrified if I had not checked).

"Mrs O'Leary, here girl," I called. She yapped and ran across the room. I handed her the squeaky snowman, she bit it and it squeaked, she looked rather surprised and she started playing with it, spinning around and wagging her tail.

"I think she likes it," I said as she trampled a game of Monopoly, annoying some third years.

"Yep," Alice said, "it does seem that way, or she really hates it and is trying to destroy it." She giggled but stopped suddenly when I picked up the last present. It was from her.

I carefully peeled off the wrapping paper. Inside was a hinged blue box. I opened it and saw that inside it was a necklace that was bronze with a red heart pendant. I looked at Alice. "Thank you," I said as I clutched the box close to me.

"Well put it on," she said, smiling at me. I carefully undid the tiny clasped and put it on.

"It looks beautiful on you, although, everything looks beautiful on you. I made it myself during arts and crafts. I admit I had a little help from Beckendorf, but not that much."

"I got you a present, almost forgot it." I ran back to our room and picked up the present from where I had left it in the drawer of my bedside table. I returned to the Common Room and handed it to her. She tore off the paper. Inside was a similar box to the one she gave me, except mine was green. Inside the box was also a necklace.

"Great minds think alike it seems," Alice said smiling at me as she took the necklace out of the box and looked at it. It had a piece of coloured glass as the pendant, or rather, a piece of multi-coloured glass. It had a full rainbow carefully layered in the glass.

"I saw it and it reminded me of your eyes," I said quietly as my girlfriend stared at the necklace.

"It's beautiful," she whispered as she undid the clasp and put it on.

"It looks perfect on you," I said. She leaned over and kissed me on the lips, much to the annoyance of Ron and Harry next to us, who I heard get up and leave. I did not care what others thought; I was too deeply lost in the kiss.

"Get a room!" someone shouted from across the room, which caused everyone to laugh, but we ignored them, deepening our kiss.

"I meant a different room!" he shouted again, causing less laughter than the first time. We finally parted, both breathing heavily and blushing.

Although I did not celebrate Christmas, I had decided it would be improper not to reciprocate gift giving. Harry gave me a book about Hieroglyphs (picked out by Sirius). I gave him a copy of my favourite book about magical history (so he had a better source than Binns). Ron was included in his family gift of a jumper. I gave a gift back of some muggle assorted miscellaneous items for his father to tinker with and a box of muggle jelly beans for Ron (who seemed to be disappointed by the lack of every flavour). John sent me a book about tactics. I gave him a replica of Napoleon's hat with enchantments to induce calmness on the wearer (Napoleon being his half-brother). I gave Uncle Alistair a sneakoscope, to warn him until his giant one was fixed. It started pinging immediately, but he declared that he had seen Peeves skulking about and would soon bring the poltergeist in line. Chiron sent a couple of records of his favourite artists (I think he did that to annoy me), I had sent him a joke present in response, a jumper which read 'I believe in Santaur' and had a picture of a centaur that was half reindeer half Santa. Annabeth sent me a book about the architecture of France. I sent her a book about the overlap between muggle history and wizards. Percy forgot, but I sent him a book about magical marine animals. The Stolls sent a present, but I did not trust it. It remains unopened to this day.

* * *

The novelty of a white Christmas quickly wore off when the snow did not lighten up until after Christmas break ended. Although that did not mean the weather got nicer. In fact, the weather only got colder and wetter. Nobody was looking forward to Care of Magical Creatures in this weather. I had left Mrs O'Leary to her own devices with the squeaky snowman while were out seeing as she had a tendency of scaring the creatures. The weather promised that we would be freezing and soaked to the bone, though as Ron said, the Skrewts would probably warm us up nicely, either by chasing us, or blasting off so forcefully that Hagrid's cabin would catch fire.

When we arrived at Hagrid's cabin, however, we found an elderly witch with short grey hair and a very prominent chin standing before his front door. Alice and I were not cold, unlike the other people who were there because I had made a bubble of warmth around us.

"Hurry up, now, the bell rang five minutes ago," she barked at us as we struggled toward her through the snow.

"Who're you?" Ron said, staring at her.

"Where's Hagrid?" Alice asked.

"My name is Professor Grubbly-Plank," she said briskly. "I am your temporary Care of Magical Creatures teacher."

"Where's Hagrid?" Harry repeated loudly.

"He is indisposed," Professor Grubbly-Plank said shortly, glaring at Harry.

I heard the sound of soft and unpleasant laughter. It was coming from Malfoy and the rest of the Slytherins. They all looked gleeful and none of them looked surprised to see Professor Grubbly-Plank. I had a bad feeling that Malfoy and his gang of snakes had something to do with Hagrid's absence. I could only hope Hagrid wasn't hurt.

"This way, please," Professor Grubbly-Plank said, and she strode off around a cairn. The class followed her. Some of us looked back over our shoulders at Hagrid's cabin. All of the curtains were closed.

'Is Hagrid in there, alone and ill?' I wondered to myself as the cabin faded from view.

"What's wrong with Hagrid?" I asked, hurrying to catch up with Professor Grubbly-Plank.

"Never you mind," she said, as though she thought I was being nosy.

"We do mind, though," Harry said hotly. "What's up with him?"

Professor Grubbly-Plank acted as though she could not hear us. She led us past the paddock where the huge Beauxbatons Abraxans were standing, huddled against the cold, their fancy Beauxbatons coats doing nothing against the cold. She led us towards a tree on the edge of the forest, where a large and beautiful unicorn was tethered.

Alice and I rolled our eyes as many of the girls ooooohed and ahhhhhed at the sight of the unicorn. "Oh it's so beautiful!" Lavender whispered. "How did she get it? They're supposed to be really hard to catch!"

The unicorn's white coat was so white and pure that it made the snow look grey. It was pawing at the ground nervously with its golden hooves and throwing back its horned head. Unicorns are beautiful and majestic until, as we found out in Idaho, you steal one's box of Lucky Charms. Then they are terrifying.

"Boys keep back!" Professor Grubbly-Plank barked, throwing out an arm out and catching Harry hard in the chest. "They prefer the woman's touch, unicorns. Girls to the front, and approach with care, come on, easy does it..."

"C'mon, Janet," Hermione said, joining the line that was hesitantly walking over to the unicorn. Alice rolled her eyes and strode over to the poor thing, ignoring Professor Grubbly-Plank's shouted warnings.

"I'll meet you there." I went over to Ron and Harry.

"Shouldn't you be with the other girls?" Ron asked.

I ignored him and said, "What do you reckon's wrong with Hagrid? Do you think maybe one of the Skrewts..."

"Oh he hasn't been attacked, Harker, if that's what you're thinking," Malfoy said softly. "No, he's just too ashamed to show his big, ugly face."

"I think you should be the one worrying about their face," I retorted, bunching my fists.

"What d'you mean, Malfoy?" Harry said sharply.

Malfoy put his hand inside the pocket of his robes and pulled out a folded page of newsprint. "There you go," he said. "Hate to break it to you, Potter..."  
He smirked as Harry snatched the page, unfolded it, and read it, with Neville, Ron, Seamus, Dean, and I looking over his shoulder. It was an article topped with a poor drawing of Hagrid looking extremely shifty.

* * *

DUMBLEDORE'S GIANT MISTAKE

Albus Dumbledore, eccentric headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, has never been afraid to make controversial staff appointments, writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. In September of this year, he hired Alastair "Mad-Eye" Moody, the notoriously jinx-happy ex-Auror, to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts. The decision caused many raised eyebrows at the Ministry of Magic, given Moody's well-known habit of attacking anybody who makes a sudden movement in his presence. Mad-Eye Moody, however, looks responsible and kindly when set beside the part-human Dumbledore employs to teach Care of Magical Creatures.

Rubeus Hagrid, who admits to being expelled from Hogwarts in his third year, has enjoyed the position of gamekeeper at the school ever since, a job secured for him by Dumbledore. Last year, however, Hagrid used his mysterious influence over the headmaster to secure the additional post of Care of Magical Creatures teacher, over the heads of many better-qualified candidates.

An alarmingly large and ferocious-looking man, Hagrid has been using his newfound authority to terrify the students in his care with a succession of horrific creatures. While Dumbledore turns a blind eye, Hagrid has maimed several pupils during a series of lessons that many admit to being "very frightening".

"I was attacked by a hippogriff, and my friend Vincent Crabbe got a bad bite off a flobberworm," says Draco Malfoy, a fourth-year student. "We all hate Hagrid, but we're just too scared to say anything."

Hagrid has no intention of ceasing his campaign of intimidation, however. In conversation with a Daily Prophet reporter last month, he admitted breeding creatures he has dubbed "Blast-Ended Skrewts," highly dangerous crosses between Miniature German Manticores and fire-crabs. The creation of new breeds of magical creature is, of course, an activity usually closely observed by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Hagrid, however, considers himself to be above such petty restrictions.

"I was just having some fun," he says, before hastily changing the subject.

As if this were not enough, the Daily Prophet has now unearthed evidence that Hagrid is not, as he has always pretended, a pure-blood wizard. He is not, in fact, even pure human. His mother, we can exclusively reveal, is none other than the giantess Fridwulfa, whose whereabouts are currently unknown.  
Bloodthirsty and brutal, the giants brought themselves to the point of extinction by warring amongst themselves during the last century. The handful that remained joined the ranks of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and were responsible for some of the worst mass Muggle killings of his reign of terror.

While many of the giants who served He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named were killed by Aurors working against the Dark Side, Fridwulfa was not among them. It is possible she escaped to one of the giant communities still existing in foreign mountain ranges. If his antics during Care of Magical Creatures lessons are any guide, however, Fridwulfa's son appears to have inherited her brutal nature.

In a bizarre twist, Hagrid is reputed to have developed a close friendship with the boy who brought around You-Know-Who's fall from power, thereby driving Hagrid's own mother, like the rest of You-Know-Who's supporters, into hiding. Perhaps Harry Potter is unaware of the unpleasant truth about his large friend. But, Albus Dumbledore surely has a duty to ensure that Harry Potter, along with his fellow students, is warned about the dangers of associating with part-giants.

* * *

I finished reading the article and looked up at Ron and Harry. Ron's mouth was hanging open. "Who knew Hagrid was a half-giant?" Ron asked as the rest of the article sank in.

"I had guessed he was," I said. "It did stand to reason, given his height, that he was half-giant."

"I did," Harry said sadly. "He told me. We were alone, unless you count the beetle on the reindeer statue. How did Skeeter find out?"

"What d'you mean, we all hate Hagrid?" Ron spat at Malfoy. "What's this rubbish about him," he jabbed furiously at Crabbe, "getting a bad bite off a flobberworm? They haven't even got teeth!"

Crabbe was sniggering, apparently very pleased with himself.

"Well, I think this should put an end to the oaf's teaching career," Malfoy said, his eyes glinting. "Half-giant, and there was me thinking he'd just swallowed a bottle of Skele-Gro when he was young. None of the mummies and daddies are going to like this at all… They'll be worried he'll eat their kids, ha, ha… Soon there'll be one less half-breed at this school"

My blood was boiling at that point (figuratively of course). Ron and Harry both glared at Malfoy, Harry took out his wand and pointed it at Malfoy. "You—!"

"Girl!" Professor Grubbly-Plank yelled at me. "You're supposed to be over here, not with the boys! Get over here!"

I looked at Harry. "Don't do it, Harry. Malfoy's not worth it."

"Girl!" Professor Grubbly-Plank yelled again. I sent Harry a warning look and then glared at Malfoy before running over to where the other girls were.

* * *

"I hope she stays, that woman!" Padma said when the lesson ended and we were all heading back to the castle for lunch. "That's more what I thought Care of Magical Creatures would be like. Proper creatures like unicorns, not monsters."

"We have to study both kinds of creatures," I said, "otherwise if we come face to face with one of those monsters knowing anything about them we could end up dead."

"And what about Hagrid?" Ron said angrily as we went up the steps.

"What about him?" Padma said in a hard voice. "He can still be gamekeeper, can't he?" Padma stalked off with Lavender into the Great Hall.

"I think Padma is still a bit peeved with you about the Ball," Alice said. "Maybe if you hadn't of been such a grumpy Goblin she wouldn't have been so cold."

Ron shrugged. "I suppose I should've paid a bit more attention to her. But I heard she's been telling everyone she's going with a boy from Durmstrang to Hogsmeade the next weekend trip."

"That was a really good lesson," Hermione said as we entered the Great Hall. "I didn't know half the things Professor Grubbly-Plank told us about uni—"

"Look at this!" Harry snarled, and he shoved the Daily Prophet article under Hermione's nose. Hermione's mouth fell open as she read. Her reaction was exactly the same as Ron's.

"How did that horrible Skeeter woman find out? You don't think Hagrid told her?"

"No," Harry said, leading the way over to the Gryffindor table and throwing himself onto the bench, furious. "He only ever told me. I reckon she was so mad he wouldn't give her loads of horrible stuff about us, she went ferreting around to get him back."

"Maybe she heard him telling Madame Maxime at the ball," Hermione said quietly. "I know they spent a lot of time in the gardens together, he might have told Maxime and Skeeter overheard."

"That's possible," Alice agreed, "Skeeter'll snoop around for any sort of headline."

"She'd have been seen in the garden!" Ron said. "Anyway, she's not supposed to come into school anymore, Hagrid said Dumbledore banned her..."

"Maybe she's got an invisibility cloak," Harry said, ladling chicken casserole onto his plate and splashing it everywhere in his anger. "Sort of thing she'd do, isn't it? Hide in bushes listening to people."

"Like you do?" I asked.

"We've got to go and see him," Harry said ignoring me, "this evening, after Divination, tell him we want him back… you do want him back?" He shot a look at Hermione.

"I, well, I'm not going to pretend it didn't make a nice change, having a proper Care of Magical Creatures lesson for once, but I do want Hagrid back, of course I do!" Hermione added hastily, quailing under Harry's furious stare.

So that evening after dinner, we found John and the six of us left the castle, Mrs O'Leary trotting along happily, and went down through the frozen grounds to Hagrid's cabin. Harry knocked and Fang's booming barks answered.

"Hagrid, it's us!" Harry shouted, pounding on the door. "Open up!"

Hagrid did not answer. We could hear Fang scratching at the door, whining, but it did not open. We hammered on it for ten more minutes. Ron even went and banged on one of the windows, but there was no response.

"Hagrid, please, we just want to talk," I said in my sweetest voice.

"I think he's avoiding us," Harry said darkly.

"What's he avoiding us for?" Hermione asked. "He surely doesn't think we'd care about him being half-giant?"

"Maybe we just give him time," John suggested. "I know that if someone found out a dark family secret, I'd want time and space to recover."

"He's not opening up," Hermione said after we waited for another ten minutes. "Let's go back to the castle."

We did not see a sign of him all week. He didn't appear at the staff table at mealtimes, we didn't see him going about him gamekeeper duties on the grounds. Professor Grubbly-Plank continued to take the Care of Magical Creatures classes. Malfoy was gloating at every possible opportunity.

"Missing your other half-breed pal?" he kept whispering to Harry or me whenever there was a teacher around, so that he was safe from our retaliation. "Missing the elephant-man?" I got my revenge by resurrecting the chair gag where I kept moving Draco's seat out the way whenever he sat down.


	22. Chapter 22

There was a Hogsmeade visit near the end of January, Hermione and I were surprised that Harry was going to go.

"I just thought you'd want to take advantage of the common room being quiet," she said. "Really get to work on that egg."

"Oh, I, I reckon I've got a pretty good idea what it's about now," Harry lied. It was a really obvious lie.

"Have you really?" Hermione said, looking impressed. "Well done!"

When Hermione left the room, I turned to him. "You still haven't figured it out, have you?"

"No, but I wasn't going to tell Hermione that," Harry admitted.

I groaned. "Harry, the task is in five weeks. Why haven't you done anything?"

"I haven't had time," Harry said.

"You need to make time! This is a life or death situation!" I exclaimed. "If you don't figure out the egg, you could end up dead in the next task. You need to stay here instead of going to Hogsmeade so you can figure out the egg. I'll even stay to help out."

Harry shook his head. "No, I need to go to Hogsmeade. What if Hagrid's there and I get a chance to persuade to come back?"

"Harry, I think this task is a bit more important than Hagrid at the moment. I'm sure he'd understand too," I said. "Besides, what makes you think Hagrid's going to be at Hogsmeade when he doesn't even show his to face to his students?"

"It's a feeling," Harry replied stubbornly.

I sighed exasperatedly. "Well then, if you're so set on going to Hogsmeade at least try to work on the egg now."

"I have plenty of time, Janet," Harry said, "just stop worrying."

"Excuse me for caring about your wellbeing. I'm going to repeat that the task is in five weeks and if you aren't prepared you could end up hurt or worse," I said.

"Hey, Harry, wanna play a round of Wizard's Chess?" Ron asked, holding the chess board in his hands.

"Sure." Harry then left with Ron.

"Boys are so stupid," I muttered angrily, "so glad I don't date them."

* * *

In Hogsmeade I bumped into Cedric. "Oh, hey, Janet, thanks for telling me about the Dragons, I'd be toast without your help. I thought I'd repay the favour, you know, with the egg. Has Harry solved that yet?"

"Nope, not even tried," I said. "It just screams at him whenever he opens it. He won't let me near it to have a look in case I break it."

Cedric chuckled. "Sounds about right, from what I've heard about Harry anyway. You know the prefects' bathroom on the fifth floor?" I nodded. "It's not a bad place for a bath. Just tell Harry to take his egg and mull things over in the hot water."

"I will, thanks," I said, smiling.

"Don't thank me, Professor Moody helped me find the answer. He's a clever man, strange, but clever," Cedric said, smiling. "Anyway, see you around. I promised Cho I'd meet her at the sweet shop, can't keep her waiting." He chuckled and hurried off.

"What was that about?" Alice asked.

"Cedric just told me how to solve the egg. I told him about the Dragons, so he told me about the egg, seems like a fair trade," I said with a smile.

"Come on, I don't want our date ruined by thinking about the tournament," Alice said as she grabbed my arm and dragged me in the direction of Madam Puddifoot's horrifically pink teashop.

* * *

After Hogsmeade I found Harry in the Common Room. "Harry, Cedric told me how to solve the egg."

"Really!" Harry said, his eyebrows shooting up. "Why'd he do that?"

"Because I told him about the Dragons. Anyway, you know the prefects' bathroom on the fifth floor?"

"Yeah?"

"He says that it's not a bad place to have a bath and that you should take your egg along and mull things over in the hot water."

Harry scratched his chin. "I guess I could take a bath. Thanks Janet, I'll do that now." He went up the stairs to his room and returned minutes later with the egg, soap and a towel.

"Where's Harry going?" Hermione asked as she entered the Common Room.

"Prefects' Bathroom, he's chasing a hint from Cedric about the egg," I said.

"I thought he'd already solved it?" Hermione said raising an eyebrow.

"He was wrong," I said simply, not wanting to get Harry in trouble

"Where's Alice?" Hermione asked. "You two have been even more inseparable as of late."

I shrugged. "I haven't seen her since we went on our date earlier. When we got back to the castle she told me not to follow her and walked off. I trust her to not be doing something stupid."

"I'm sure she being sensible," Hermione said with a smile. "Speaking of sensible, you really need to stop moving Draco's seat. He's noticed that the only time it doesn't move is in Transfigurations, the only lesson you're not in."

I shrugged. "He can try something if he wants to. He has no proof that it's me. If he tries to start something, I know I'll win."

"That's not the right approach to take," Hermione said angrily.

"What is? Attack him? This way I get my revenge for all the things he does and says and don't get in trouble. It's harmless. Draco gets a little embarrassed, maybe bruises his arse a little, but no permanent damage."

"That's not the point," Hermione said angrily.

I made a noncommittal noise and returned to the book I had been reading before Hogsmeade. It was a book that I might have borrowed from the Restricted Section without anyone's permission. It was about combating Titan magic and I had a feeling that it might be necessary, considering that everything was happening in the summer, but it was mostly speculation.

Half an hour after he left, Harry came bounding back in. "I know what the clue is!" he said joyfully.

"Well, what is it?" Hermione asked excitedly.

"It's singing, the voices of merpeople, they said," Harry cleared his throat. "Come seek us where our voices sound. We cannot sing above the ground. An hour long you'll have to look, to recover what we took."

"So," I said, "the school is going to take something, probably someone, very important to each of you and tie them up at the bottom of the lake, guarded by merpeople and you have an hour to find them. Seems simple enough."

"Simple?" Harry asked. "I'd have to hold my breath for an hour."

"I'll turn you into a freshwater shark, no problem," I said dismissively.

"Janet, no offence, but I don't want to be a shark, even temporarily." Harry sounded a little freaked out.

"Okay, but what other options do we have?" I asked.

"Could I use polyjuice to turn into a merperson? Myrtle said that someone had been brewing polyjuice, she found it in a blocked drain."

"Myrtle?" Hermione frowned. "I thought she was only in the girl's bathroom?"

"I thought she'd have passed on now the Basilisk is dead," I replied. "She's full of surprises it seems." Suddenly something clicked. "Did you say polyjuice?"

"Yeah?" Harry replied.

"Oh, oh that makes sense now. Oh no, I've got to go." I got up, ignoring my friend's questions and quickly ran up to my room, grabbed Foeslicer, still in its sheath and ran back down to the Common Room. I passed through the Common Room quickly and left, once again ignoring their questions.

* * *

I made my way as quickly as possible down to the dungeon, where I bumped into Snape.

"Watch where you're going Harker," Snape said angrily.

"Professor Snape, have the ingredients required to make polyjuice been going missing lately?" I asked quickly.

"Yes, they have, why do you want to know?" He said, taken so much by surprised that he did not have time to prevent himself answering. When he saw my expression he knew something important was going on. "I assumed your little band of outcasts were behind it."

"How much has gone missing?"

"Enough to make enough polyjuice to last one person the entire term. Now, what is going on?"

"Where's Professor Moody?"

Snape's eyes widened. "You don't think...?"

"I'm not sure, but I intend to find out," I showed him the dagger, his nostrils flared.

"You are not torturing a teacher!"

"No, he gave me this dagger in the summer. I bet if he is an imposter he won't recognise it."

"That is a large assumption to make," Snape said.

"One I have to make, if I don't, lives could be in danger." I looked him in the eye. "Now, I ask again, where is Professor Moody?"

"In his office, he's marking papers," Snape said. "I'll come with you."

"Let's go then." We hurried up to the Defence against the Dark Arts classroom, where I motioned for Snape to stop.

* * *

"Wait here, he'll get suspicious if both of us are knocking at his door."

Snape frowned, but nodded. I knocked at the door.

"What?" Uncle Alistair's voice called out.

"Uncle Alistair, it's me, may I come in?" I asked.

"Janet, come in, come in." I opened the door and entered. He was sitting at his desk, a stack of marking in front of him. "What can I do for you?"

I showed him the dagger. "Do you recognise this dagger?" I handed it to him.

"No, looks Dwarf made. Yep, definitely Dwarven. Dwarven daggers always have a unique set of runes, and I've never seen this one before in my life." I palmed my wand. "Sorry, Janet, can't help you. Why do you want to know?"

"Oh, it's just because it's the one you gave me in the summer."

His face fell.

" **I** **ncarcerous**."

He was tied to his chair by a thick rope."Janet, what is the meaning of this?"

I walked over, took back my dagger, and reached into his sleeve and removed his wand from its holster.

"So I forgot the dagger, so what? It's a small thing to forget. I'm old, what do you expect?"

"We went to see the Great Dragon Migration when I was six, we camped for days to see it. Why didn't we see it in the end?"

"Clouds, there was low cloud. It blotted out the sky, hiding the Dragons from us." The imposter was sweating.

"Wrong," I said. "We never even went to the Great Dragon Migration because there isn't one. It was a trick question, but a very specific one. It was something Uncle Alistair and I agreed on. You made him tell you important events that I might ask about. Correct?"

"Yes," the imposter hissed, "under the Imperius curse and Veritaserum and he still lied, how?"

"He didn't. It's a false memory," I said with a thin smile. The false memory was one that he put in his own head in case his Occlumency shields were ever breached by someone trying to get him to talk. "You told me the memory that Uncle Alistair has but I don't, so where is he?"

Snape chose that moment to enter the room.

"Snape, help! She tied me up and took my wand. I think she's going to kill me!"

"He's a fraud," Snape stated. "I found old bottles of polyjuice in his store cupboard."

"Yep," I said, turning back to the imposter. "Now, you will tell me where my Godfather is or I will pull the memory out of your head by force, and I won't be gentle about it. I'm sure the Ministry won't really care what shape you're in when they get you."

"You're bluffing," the imposter said shakily.

I reached out with my legilimency, trying to get into his head. He had strong occlumency shielding, far stronger than I was expecting. He had clearly spent years building up his shield.

"You can't read my mind, can you?" He smiled at me. There was no humour in the smile, just anger and hate, which was strange to see on Uncle Alistair's face. "I know you won't do anything brash. After all, you're a hero and heroes don't hurt people."

I put my dagger up to his throat. "Try me."

"Heroes spare the villain," the imposter whimpered

"When it comes to my friends and family, I wouldn't bet on that." I dug the dagger into his neck a little, careful to choose somewhere away from anything important. A trickle of blood welled out of the cut.

"What happened to using legilimency?" he squeaked as he tried to get away from the dagger.

"I said I'd get the memory out by force, I never said I'd just use legilimency. If Uncle Alistair told you everything he knows about me then you know what I am."

"You're a Demigod, a filthy mongrel," he hissed.

"Ooh, tsk tsk, not a good idea to antagonise the angry girl with a knife to your throat." I grinned at him. I dug a little deeper. More blood, I was starting to feel sick with myself. I was too scared to use my legilimency more forcefully in case I broke his mind beyond repair in my anger and risked losing my Uncle. "You know what I am, then you know that we are rather protective of our friends and family."

"I'll talk."

I removed my dagger. The impostor was staring at me with wide eyed fear, his chest heaving rapidly. "He's in the trunk." He sank in his chair.

"Good man," I said.

I knocked him out with a nonverbal spell. Snape drew his wand and pointed it at the padlocked trunk. The lock flew off, the lid opened and a slightly small chest came out. Then that one opened and another chest came out, on and on until all seven layers of chests had opened. I climbed to the top and looked in. At the bottom Uncle Alistair sat in a vest and long johns. "Uncle Alistair!" I shouted down. He looked up, his missing eye covered by a cloth eyepatch.

"Janet," he croaked, smiling weakly, "you're a sight for a sorry eye." He coughed. "I don't suppose you could help me out?"

"Nah, I was planning on leaving you in there you old fool."

He smiled weakly up at me.

"Give us a minute."

After a lot of effort and some creative thinking, we managed to get Uncle Alistair out of the box. "Can you leave me alone with this joker for ten minutes please?" he asked when I handed him a change of clothes and his fake leg. We turned our backs as he changed.

"I can't do that Moody," Snape said levelly. "I already bent the rules too far when I let Miss Harker hurt him."

"I hope you scared him good," Uncle Alistair said. "You can look now."

We turned to face him. He looked almost back to normal. He was thinner than normal and he looked tired, very tired.

"She scared him rather well, I think. He appears to have lost control of his bladder." There was indeed a conspicuous wet patch spreading on fake Moody's trousers.

"Now, what took you so long?" Uncle Alistair asked as he put in his fake eye. "I was in there for months."

"He was rather convincing," I muttered, "and bigger things were going on than you acting a bit strange."

"Like what?" he asked angrily as he adjusted his leg.

"Harry got entered into the Triwizard Tournament," I said.

"What? How did this happen?" he roared. He turned to his fake self. "He must have done it!" We restrained him as he went to grab for the imposter.

"I had kind of guessed that. Now, let's take him to Dumbledore."

I dispelled the ropes. Snape grabbed one shoulder whilst Uncle Alistair dragged the impostor to his feet. I helped keep him on his feet. We lugged him through the corridors, gaining a fair few confused glances as we did so as people realised there were two Alistair Moodys.

* * *

"Everlasting Gobstoppers," Snape said to the gargoyles when we reached Dumbledore's office. They parted, letting us enter.

"I appear to be hallucinating, because I can see two of you Alistair," Dumbledore said with a kindly smile.

"Professor Dumbledore," Uncle Alistair reported, "for the last few months, in fact, since I've worked here, I've been impersonated by this lowlife. He knocked me out me at my home in September. When I awoke I was being kept in a large box, he has kept me in that box since, only opening it to provide me with food and water and to take away some of my hairs to brew polyjuice potions with. Janet recently became suspicious and investigated. She and Professor Snape here freed me less than a half hour ago."

"I actually became suspicious almost immediately," I corrected, "but I could not make all the pieces fit until Harry mentioned that Moaning Myrtle told him about polyjuice potions in a blocked drain."

"Hmm, so, who is our mysterious doppelganger then?" Dumbledore asked.

"We can ask him when he wakes up," I suggested.

"Indeed." Dumbledore picked up something off his desk that looked like a saltshaker and passed it to Snape, who passed it under the imposter's nose.

The imposter gasped and his eyes flew open. He saw Dumbledore and began a tirade of rather creative cussing. Uncle Alistair stopped him by slapping him round the back of the head.

"Magical smelling salts are rather useful," Dumbledore noted as he took the saltshaker back.

"Are they just normal smelling salts with the word magical stuck to the front?" I asked.

"Of course," Dumbledore said with a small smile, "that makes it work better. So, let's address our friend here. Who are you?"

"I'm not your friend," he hissed,"I am no-one."

"I knew that," Uncle Alistair growled, "but we'd like a name before we send you to the Ministry."

"Well, you're going to have to wait for my potion to wear-off. If I'm going down, I'm going to waste as much of your miserable lives as possible whilst doing it."

"That's it!" Uncle Alistair shouted, "I've had it with you." He put his hands to the man's temples. "An occlumencer, huh? Let's see how good you are."

"Please stop!" The impostor shouted after a tense ten minute battle between minds.

"What is your name?" Uncle Alistair asked.

"Crouch, Barty Crouch Junior!" The man shouted. "Now please stop!"

Uncle Alistair removed his hands from Crouch Jr's temples.

"Why are you here?" Dumbledore asked. His eyes no longer twinkled, instead they were hard and beady.

"To serve the Dark Lord, I was to enter Harry Potter into the tournament and set him up to fail in the last task." Crouch spat at Dumbledore, which earned him a swift palm to the back of the head from Uncle Alistair.

"Very well," Dumbledore said sternly. "I will hand you to the Aurors as soon as they can collect you."

He turned to Uncle Alistair. "Alistair, we will tell everyone that he was hiding in the caves in the forest and, in the ensuing fight to apprehend him, you lost most of your memory since the beginning of the year due to a stray memory charm."

Uncle Alistair nodded. "Very well. It will look bad for the school, but it's better than letting everyone know the Defence teacher was kidnapped for months and replaced and no-one noticed."

"I'll tell everyone," Crouch promised.

"Severus, Alistair, take him to the highest tower and lock him up, I have a letter to write, and Miss Harker, well done."

I smiled. "I was just doing what was required of me," I said.

"I think this calls for some points. So, for your help in apprehending an escaped fugitive that no-one knew had escaped, I say that's worth about fifty points. Don't you?" The twinkle had returned to his eyes.

"Yes Professor, thank you," I said, I did not really care about the points (no-one did really after third year).

"Now run along. I'm sure Harry will need help with the next task."

I nodded and left.

* * *

I hesitated before returning to the Common Room as I remembered something Alice had told me and we had both shrugged off at the time. During our second year at Hogwarts she, along with some of our friends, went on a quest to the Bermuda Triangle, the modern Sea of Monsters, to rescue another friend of ours. While on the quest she received a prophecy in a dream, which we dismissed as being Kronos' fearmongering, but as I stood in that corridor and thought I realised it was coming true. The prophecy went something along the lines of:

 _Caught in wars. Magic. Time. Civil. Sacrifices made. Teacher. Friend. Family. Betrayal. Teacher. Friend. Family. Help arrives late. Enemies are friends. Seven break. Seven burn. Enemies fall. Friends will fall furthest. The Earth will burn._

While the Civil War had not arisen yet, the Magic war was going to be the imminent war against the death eaters, with the time against Kronos. We had already lost friends and family against Kronos, but the worst was definitely to come. The part that was coming true was the betrayal. A teacher betrayed our trust in Barty Crouch Junior, a friend in Luke and family in Drake (or vice versa, those two are interchangeable). 'Maybe the prophecy is not fearmongering, but maybe it is, after all Kronos could have just seen the inevitable with the magic war, the betrayals were his own doing or inevitable in the war. I shouldn't scare Alice, not when everyone is worrying about Harry, and Kronos in the summer.

I walked back to the Common Room, where I found Alice waiting for me with a cake with fifteen candles on top. "Janet, I realised, that we sort of forgot your birthday and I really wanted to make a cake, so I made you a cake."

I smiled at my girlfriend. "You didn't have to-"

"But I wanted to, can you light the candles please, I couldn't convince the House Elves to give me matches and I'm not convinced I could do it without burning the entire cake. I know it's bad form to ask you to light your own birthday candles, but..."

I lit the candles. "I don't really care about bad form at the moment," I said as I smiled at her flustered expression.

"Well, now blow them out and make a wish." I blew them out again. "What did you wish for? Wait, don't tell me, it's bad luck to tell someone."

I kissed her. "Thank you so much, Alice," I said. "This was really sweet of you."

Alice snickered. "Sweet, cake, please tell me that was intentional."

I blinked out of confusion."Not at all. There was no humorous intention, it just sort of happened."

"Shame," Alice said pouting. "Do you want to do the honours?"

"I shall." I used the air and cleanly divided the cake.

"You know," Alice said when we both had a slice of cake, "that seems almost like a waste of magic, then I remember that it is cake and nothing is a waste when it ends in cake."

I chuckled, which caused a piece of cake to get lodged in my throat, " **Anapaneo** ," Alice cast, "are you okay?" She asked with a small chuckle when I finished coughing.

"Yeah, bit of cake went the wrong way." I smiled at her concerned face.

"Shame, I was hoping to give you the kiss of life." We both started laughing.

"Cake!" I heard Ron shout, I turned, Ron, Hermione and Harry had returned from wherever they went. Harry looked rather damp, like he had been for a swim.

"Well done Ron," I deadpanned, "you have successfully identified a cake. We are all in awe of your amazing intelligence."

"Alright, Janet," Ron said, his feelings hurt, "no need to be rude."

"Then don't make such obvious statements Ronald," Hermione said disapprovingly. "If one of us was blind it would be justified, but none of us are blind so you don't need to narrate the world to us."

"Oh, you two are in this part of your relationship," I muttered. "The cycle goes distant loving looks, then you move on to annoying each other, then argumentative, then full blown argument, then you hate each other, argumentative again and then back to distant loving looks. Just kiss already and save everyone the headache."

Ron blushed. "Her? No way." Hermione looked unsure over who she wanted to glare at more, Ron or me.

I gritted my teeth in frustration. "Then please at least stop bickering, it gets rather tiresome."

Ron blushed slightly. "Can I have some cake?"

I rolled my eyes but cut the three of them some cake.

"I suppose I should offer Neville some." I turned to look at Neville, who was sitting in the corner reading a Herbology book. "Neville," I called.

He looked up. "Yeah?"

"Want some cake?" I asked.

"Yes please," he said as he got up and came over to join us. I cut him a slice and passed it to him."Thanks. Hey, Harry, did you that there's a wizard in Nepal who's grown a gravity resistant tree?"

"Neville, no offence, but I don't care about plants, unless there's a Tibetan turnip that can help me breathe underwater for an hour."

Neville thought for a moment, "I don't know about turnips, but you could always use gillyweed."

"Gilly what?" Harry asked.

"Gillyweed, it's a plant. You usually find it on the edges of ponds. It allows a wizard to breathe underwater for about an hour, give or take a few minutes. It was all in that book Professor Moody lent me last term. It gives the consumer gills and webbed fingers and toes. I think Snape has some in his personal potions stash down in the Greenhouse, I could probably get you some if you'd like?"

"That'd be awesome," Harry said smiling broadly."Thanks, Neville."

Neville smiled nervously. "What are friends for?"

* * *

That evening at dinner Dumbledore stood up and made an announcement. "Attention everyone."

The chatter in the Great Hall died down as everyone turned to face him.

"You will recall that Harry Potter was entered into the tournament against his will." There was an outbreak of murmuring in the Hall as people discussed this, but they were silenced by Dumbledore. "Earlier this evening one of the students, Janet Harker, discovered the culprit and with the assistance of two of the teachers, Professors Snape and Moody, was able to subdue him. He was discovered to be a former death eater Barty Crouch Junior, previously presumed death, who had been living in the Forbidden Forest. In the ensuing scuffle, Professor Moody was hit by a memory charm and now does not remember much of this school year, so please be patient with him if he has forgotten your name or repeats a lesson. For her part in the capture of Barty Crouch Junior, Miss Harker has been awarded fifty points."

There was no applause as Dumbledore sat down, just nervous conversation, particularly amongst the students of the other two schools. It was not just limited to the students either. Madame Maxime looked extremely uncomfortable at the revelation, but Karkaroff looked downright terrified, his knuckles were white as he clutched his mug.

"So that's where you ran off to," Harry commented. "But how'd you guess?"

"Polyjuice, you mentioned Myrtle's comment about polyjuice, I went to check Snape's ingredient store and the ingredients for polyjuice were missing. So I told Snape that I thought I knew who had been stealing it, then we went and confronted him." I looked around at other people to see if they were listening. Alice and Harry were, but Ron was arguing with Hermione (shock horror) and everyone was more interested in each other than us, which I was fine with. "He's been posing as Professor Moody all year," I whispered.

"What?" Harry gasped, drawing some weird looks from the people around us before returning to their conversations.

"Yeah, it's why I kept saying he was acting strangely, it's because it wasn't him. He was someone doing a very good impression."

"I'm impressed you managed to work all of that out," Harry said.

"That's my Janet," Alice said with a giggle as she kissed me on the cheek, "Junior Auror."

I smiled back. "Thanks, Alice," I said, giving her a little kiss.


	23. Chapter 23

The next Hogsmeade day we (Harry, Ron, Hermione, Alice and I, John was on a date with Luna) left the castle together and set off through the cold, wet grounds toward the gates. As we passed the Durmstrang ship moored in the lake, we saw Viktor Krum emerge onto the deck, dressed in nothing but swimming trunks. He was very skinny, but apparently he was a lot tougher than he looked, because he climbed up onto the side of the ship, stretched out his arms, and dove straight into the lake. I shuddered to think how cold the water must be.

"He's mad!" Harry said, staring at Krum's dark head as it bobbed out into the middle of the lake. "It must be freezing, it's February!"

"It's a lot colder where he comes from," Hermione said. "I suppose it feels quite warm to him."

"Yeah, but there's still the giant squid," Ron said, he didn't sound anxious, if anything he sounded hopeful. Hermione noticed his tone of voice and frowned.

"He's really nice, you know," she said. "He's not at all like you'd think, coming from Durmstrang. He likes it much better here, he told me."

Ron said nothing. He had not mentioned Viktor Krum since the ball, but Harry had told us about the miniature arm he'd found under his bed that no doubt belonged to the Viktor Krum doll, or "action figure" as Ron had called it, Ron got from the Quidditch World Cup.

"It could be that he's just getting ready for the next task," I commented. "You know, the one that's happening in the lake."

As we walked through Hogsmeade I we kept a lookout for Hagrid, but we had not spotted him in any of the shops so Harry suggested we go to the Three Broomstick to see if Hagrid was there.

The pub was as crowded as ever, but one quick look around the tables told us Hagrid wasn't there. I could see the disappointment on Harry's face as he realized this. The five of us walked to the bar and ordered five butterbeers from Madam Rosmerta.

"Doesn't he ever go into the office?" Hermione whispered suddenly. "Look!"

She pointed to the mirror behind the bar and I saw Ludo Bagman reflected there, sitting in a shadowy corner with a pair of Goblins. Bagman was talking very fast in a low voice to the two Goblins, both of whom had their arms crossed and were looking rather menacing.

I frowned. What was Bagman up to now? There was no Triwizard event and therefore no judging to be done.

I watched Bagman in the mirror. He was looking strained and nervous. But just then Bagman glanced over at the bar, saw Harry, and stood up.

"In a moment, in a moment!" I heard him say abruptly to the Goblins, Bagman hurried through the pub toward Harry, his usual boyish grin back in place.

"Harry!" he said with his usual enthusiasm, although it sounded strained. "How are you? Been hoping to run into you! Everything going alright?"

"Fine, thanks," Harry said suspiciously.

"Wonder if I could have a quick, private word, Harry?" Bagman said eagerly. "You couldn't give us a moment, you four, could you?"

"Er, okay," Ron said, and he, Alice, Hermione and I went off to find a table.

"Wonder what Bagman wants to talk to Harry about," Hermione said as we found an empty table.

"Who knows?" I shrugged.

I glanced over at the Goblins, who were angrily talking to each other. 'I need to figure out why Bagman was talking to those Goblins,' I thought. I drank the last bit of butterbeer I had and stood up.

"I'll be right back," I said.

"Where are you going?" Ron asked.

I ignored him and walked over to the Goblins. I looked over to where Harry and Bagman were speaking. Bagman was whispering secretly to Harry. I would have to ask Harry about that later. Once I reached the two Goblins, I cleared my throat.

"Excuse me." They broke off their conversation in the Goblin language and looked at me. "May I have a word?"

"What do you want witch?" one asked gruffly.

"I was wondering why you were talking to Ludo Bagman."

The two Goblins started talking to each other. "Well Miss…?" the second started, before raising an eyebrow.

"Harker, Janet Harker," I said.

The Goblin put a hand to his chin before snapping his fingers. "The Duke Harker's niece, yes?"

I had not heard Uncle Alexander described like that before but seeing how old our family is, it was unsurprising that we had acquired a title somewhere along the way. I nodded.

"Good man, that Alexander, I like him, always pays his bills on time and always polite. Anyway Miss Harker, Mr Bagman owes us a small fortune in unpaid debt, so we are here to collect. He doesn't have the money currently, but has made a bet on Mr Potter winning the tournament that, if it comes true, will more than cover his dues. If he does not pay, we will take a more direct approach."

"Why not talk to the Ministry?" I asked.

The two Goblins barked harsh laughter. "The Ministry? They would never do anything to get one of their own in trouble when they can just claim we're lying about either the size of the debt, or the even the existence of the debt. No, we solve these things ourselves."

"That's a shame," I said sadly.

"Bah, we're used to it," the second Goblin said. "Now run along and do... whatever kids your age do, I don't remember, it was too long ago."

I frowned at the impolite dismissal, but I left them and returned to my friends just as Harry was released by Bagman. "What did the Goblins want?" Ron asked

"They're looking for Crouch, according to Bagman," Harry said. I quietly scoffed in disbelief. "He's still ill, hasn't been into work."

"Maybe Percy's poisoning him," Ron said. "Probably thinks if Crouch snuffs it he'll be made Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation."

I rolled my eyes and responded sarcastically. "Yeah, that definitely sounds like uptight, by the books Percy. Don't be stupid, Ron. The sudden appearance of his Death Eater son probably did a number on him."

Hermione sent us both a glare. "Funny, Goblins looking for Mr Crouch. They'd normally deal with the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures."

"Crouch can speak loads of different languages, though." Harry said. "Maybe they need an interpreter."

"I don't know about that," I replied. "When I talked to them they spoke perfect English."

While Ron started teasing Hermione about the Goblins asking if she was going to form an organization for Goblins like she did for House Elves, Harry turned to me and whispered, "You talked to those Goblins?"

I nodded, "of course, I wanted to know why they were talking to Bagman."

"What'd they say?" Harry asked.

"Bagman owes them a lot of money and he hasn't paid them back. In fact, he placed a bet that if you win the tournament his debt will be cleared," I said.

"So that's why he was trying to help me," Harry said.

"Yep, it was to help him, not you," I replied. "Did Bagman talk about his theories as to why Crouch hasn't shown up to work?"

Harry shook his head. "Just that he's probably sick. He told me not to talk about it to anyone because Skeeter has been poking around for information about Crouch after you found his son. He's afraid she'll turn it into a missing person article like with Bertha Jorkins. By the way, they've finally sent search parties out for her."

"She couldn't have disappeared, they just don't have all the puzzle pieces yet," I said. "People don't just vanish."

"Uh oh," Ron said, gaining our attention.

We followed Ron's gaze at the pub's front door. I felt my blood boil at the sight of none other than Rita Skeeter. She was dressed in mouldy-banana-yellow robes today, her long nails were painted a shocking pink, between the claw-like nails, the bizarre robes and the creepy grin that revealed a flash of golden teeth she looked like a cartoon villain, or an anthropomorphised big cat (maybe a puma) looking for a meal. She was accompanied by a paunchy photographer, a short, nervous man with short black, bristly hair, a wide nose and dropping watery brown eyes, if Skeeter was a big cat this man was some kind of pig or warthog. She bought drinks, and she and her photographer sat at a table nearby, we all glared at her as she approached, she seemed not to notice us. She was talking very fast and looking very satisfied about something.

"...didn't seem very keen to talk to us, did he, Bozo? Now, why would that be, do you think? And what's he doing with a pair of Goblins in tow anyway? Showing them the sights… what nonsense… he was always a bad liar. Reckon something's up? Think we should do a bit of digging? Disgraced Ex-Head of Magical Games and Sports, Ludo Bagman… Snappy start to a sentence, Bozo, we just need to find a story to fit it—"

"Trying to ruin someone else's life?" Harry said loudly.

A few people looked around, Rita Skeeter's eyes widened behind her jewelled spectacles as she saw who had spoken. "Harry!" She said, beaming. "How lovely! Why don't you come and join—?"

"He wouldn't come near you with a ten-foot broomstick," Alice said furiously. "You had no right to do that to Hagrid!"

Skeeter glared at her. "Our readers have a right to the truth, dear. I am merely doing my—"

"Who cares if he's half-giant?" Harry shouted. "There's nothing wrong with him!"

The whole pub had gone very quiet. Madam Rosmerta was staring over from the bar, apparently oblivious to the fact that the flagon she was filling with mead was overflowing until a patron prodded her about the waste of perfectly good meed. Rita Skeeter's smile flickered very slightly, but she hitched it back up almost at once. She snapped open her crocodile-skin handbag, pulled out her acid green Quick-Quotes Quill, and started talking a mile a minute. "How about giving me an interview about the Hagrid you know, Harry? The man behind the muscles? Your unlikely friendship and the reasons behind it? Would you call him a father substitute?"

Hermione stood up abruptly, her butterbeer clutched in her head like a club. "You horrible woman," she said, through gritted teeth. "You don't care, do you? Anything for a story, and anyone will do, won't they? Ludo Bagman—"

"Sit down, you silly little girl, and don't talk about things you don't understand," Rita Skeeter said coldly, her eyes hardening as they fell on Hermione.

"Funnily enough, that's all you do," Alice retorted. "Maybe you should take your own advice for once, Skeeter."

Skeeter's eyes flashed to Alice before settling back on Hermione, "I know things about Ludo Bagman that would make your hair curl, not that it needs it..." she added, eyeing Hermione's bushy hair.

"I'd turn you into an insect, but that would make you more likable," I commented, she gave me a weird expression that looked weirdly like horror or panic.

"Let's go," Hermione said, "c'mon, Harry, Alice, Janet, Ron..."

"Yes, yes, run along children, go back to whatever unnatural, debaucherous acts you were performing," she said glaring at Alice and myself. I rolled my eyes, I was used to it with Draco.

* * *

Alice had to be dragged from the pub after that, as she was still trying to go back and knock some sense into that foul woman. Once we reached a safe distance from the pub we let her go. Alice immediately tried to go back, but Harry blocked her path.

"Move! I'm going to give that bleach-blonde bit—"

"Alice, calm down!" Harry said, placing a hand on each of her shoulders, holding her in place. Alice could have overpowered Harry, but chose not to.

"No! I will not calm down! That vile woman has ruined too many lives and now I'm going to ruin her face! I'm going to break her stupid quill and shove it up her—"

"Alice!" Hermione shouted. "You need to calm down!"

"You're one to talk, 'Mione, Skeeter'll be after you next," Ron said sounding worried.

"Let her try!" Hermione said defiantly. "I'll show her! Silly little girl, am I? Oh, I'll get her back for this. First Alice, Janet, John and Harry, then Hagrid..."

"You don't want to go upsetting Rita Skeeter," Ron said nervously, "I'm serious, Hermione, she'll dig up something on you—"

"My parents don't read the Daily Prophet, she can't scare me into hiding!" Hermione said, starting to walk faster. Harry, Alice (who was now no longer bodily harm on the reporter), Ron and I had to run to keep up with her. "And Hagrid isn't hiding anymore! He should never let that poor excuse for a human being upset him! Come on!"

* * *

Breaking into a run, she led us all the way back up the road, through the gates flanked by winged boars, and up through the grounds to Hagrid's cabin. When we arrived nothing appeared to have changed. The curtains were still drawn, and we could hear Fang barking as we approached.

"Hagrid!" Hermione shouted, pounding on his front door. "Hagrid, that's enough! We know you're in there!"

"Nobody gives a flying snitch if your mum was a giantess! You can't let that pathetic excuse for a witch do this to you!" Alice shouted.

"Hagrid get out here, you're just being—" The door opened, Hermione said, "About t—!" and then stopped, very suddenly, because she had found herself face-to-face, not with Hagrid, but with Albus Dumbledore.

"Good afternoon," he said pleasantly, smiling down at us.

"We - er - we wanted to see Hagrid," Hermione said in a small voice, "sir."

"Yes, I surmised as much," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling. "Why don't you come in?"

"Oh… um… okay," Hermione five of us went into the cabin; Fang launched himself upon Harry the moment he entered, barking madly and trying to lick his ears. While Harry fended off Fang, I looked around. Hagrid was sitting at his table, he looked a real mess, his face was blotchy, his eyes swollen, and his hair looked like a wig of tangled wire.

"Hi, Hagrid," Harry said.

Hagrid looked up. "Lo," he said in a very hoarse voice.

"More tea, I think," Dumbledore said, closing the door behind us, he drew his wand, and waved it; a revolving tea tray appeared in mid-air along with a rotating stand of cakes. Dumbledore magicked (if that was not already a word, I am making it a word) the tray onto the table, and everybody sat down. There was a slight pause and then Dumbledore broke the silence.

"Did you by any chance hear what Miss Smith and Miss Granger were shouting, Hagrid?"

Hermione and Alice went slightly pink, but Dumbledore smiled at them and continued, "Hermione, Harry, Alice, Janet, and Ron still seem to want to know you, judging by the way they were attempting to break down the door."

"Of course we still want to know you!" Harry said, staring at Hagrid. "You don't listen to anything that Skeeter cow, sorry, Professor," he added quickly, looking at Dumbledore.

"I have gone temporarily deaf and haven't any idea what you said, Harry," Dumbledore said, twiddling his thumbs and staring at the ceiling.

"Er, right," Harry said sheepishly. "I just mean, Hagrid, how could you think we'd care what that, um, woman wrote about you?"

Two fat tears leaked out of Hagrid's beetle-black eyes and fell slowly into his tangled beard.

"Living proof of what I've been telling you for the past month Hagrid," Dumbledore said, still looking carefully up at the ceiling. "I have shown you the letters from the countless parents who remember you from their own days here, telling me in no uncertain terms that if I sacked you, they would have something to say about it—"

"Not all of 'em," Hagrid said hoarsely. "Not all of 'em wan' me ter stay."

"Really, Hagrid, if you are holding out for universal popularity, I'm afraid you will be in this cabin for a very long time," Dumbledore said, now peering sternly over his half-moon spectacles. "Not a week has passed since I became headmaster of this school when I haven't had at least one owl complaining about the way I run it. But what should I do? Barricade myself in my study and refuse to talk to anybody?"

"Yeh, yeh're not half-giant!" Hagrid said croakily.

"What does it matter?!" Alice exclaimed. "You can't let that witch bring you down! You've got to show her that you're proud of who you are!"

"Alice's right, Hagrid. Look what I've got for relatives!" Harry said furiously. "Look at the Dursleys!"

"They both make an excellent point," Professor Dumbledore said. "My own brother, Aberforth, was prosecuted for practicing inappropriate charms on a goat. It was all over the papers, but did Aberforth hide? No, he did not! He held his head high and went about his business as usual! Of course, I'm not entirely sure he can read, so that may not have been bravery..."

"Come back and teach, Hagrid," Hermione said quietly."Please come back, we really miss you."

"Class isn't the same without you," I said. Hagrid gulped. More tears leaked out down his cheeks and into his tangled beard.

Dumbledore stood up. "I refuse to accept your resignation, Hagrid, and I expect you back at work on Monday," he said. "You will join us all for breakfast at eight-thirty in the Great Hall. No excuses. Good afternoon to you all." Dumbledore left the cabin, pausing only to scratch Fang's ears.

When the door shut behind him, Hagrid began to sob into his dustbin-lid-sized hands. Hermione kept patting his arm, and at last. Hagrid looked up, his eyes very red indeed, and said, "Great man, Dumbledore... great man… alway' savin' me from meself."

"Yeah, he is," Ron said in a bored tone (sometimes I wondered why we kept him around). "Can I have one of these cakes, Hagrid?"

Hermione rolled her eyes at Ron's insensitivity to the situation. "Help yerself," Hagrid said, wiping his eyes on the back of his hand. "Ar, he's righ', o' course, yeh're all righ'... I bin stupid...my ol' dad woulda bin asamed o' the way I've bin behavin'..." More tears leaked out, but he wiped them away more forcefully, and said, "Never shown you a picture of my old dad, have I? Here..."

Hagrid got up, went over to his dresser, opened a drawer, and pulled out a picture of a short wizard with his crinkled black eyes, beaming as he sat on top of Hagrid's shoulder. Hagrid was at least seven or eight feet tall, judging by the apple tree beside him, but his face was beardless, young, round, and smooth… he looked hardly older than eleven.

"Tha' was taken jus' after I got inter Hogwarts," Hagrid croaked. "Dad was dead chuffed… Thought I migh' not be a wizard, see, 'cos me mum...well, anyway. 'Course, I never was great shakes at magic, really… but at least he never saw me expelled. Died, see, in me second year… Dumbledore was the one who stuck up for me after Dad went. Got me the gamekeeper job… trusts people, he does. Gives 'em second chances… tha's what sets him apar' from other Heads, see. He'll accept anyone at Hogwarts, s'long as they've got the talent. Knows people can turn out okay even if their families weren'...well...all tha' respectable. But some don' understand that. There's some who'd always hold it against yeh… there's some who'd even pretend they just had big bones rather than stand up an' say I am what I am, an' I'm not ashamed. Never be ashamed, tha's what my ol' dad used ter say, 'there's some who'll hold it against you, but they're not worth botherin' with.' An' he was right. I've bin an idiot. Yeh were right too, Alice, I won' let her bother me no more, I promise yeh that. Big bones… I'll give her big bones."

Harry, Ron, Alice, Hermione and I looked at one another nervously. We knew Hagrid was not talking about Skeeter; he was talking about Madame Maxime, but Hagrid was still talking, apparently unaware that he had said anything odd. "Yeh know wha', Harry?" he said, looking up from the photograph of his father, his eyes very bright. "When I firs' met you, you reminded me o' me a bit. Mum an' Dad gone, an' you was feelin' like yeh wouldn' fit in at Hogwarts, remember? Not sure yeh were really up to it… an' now look at yeh, Harry! School champion!" He looked at Harry for a moment and then said, very seriously, "Yeh know what I'd love, Harry? I remember them, lovely pair." He smiled sadly for a moment, a distant look in his eye. He sighed sadly. "I'd love yeh ter win, I really would. It'd show 'em all… yeh don' have ter be pureblood ter do it. Yeh don' have ter be ashamed of what yeh are. It'd show 'em Dumbledore's the one who's got it righ', lettin' anyone in as long as they can do magic. How you doin' with that egg, Harry?"

"Great," Harry said, "really great. I think we solved it."

Hagrid's miserable face broke into a wide, watery smile. "Tha's my boy...you show 'em, Harry, you show 'em. Beat 'em all."


End file.
